Jari Kontunen, B.Sc. (Constr.), has started as the Technical Director of Port of HaminaKotka Ltd from the beginning of 2019. Jari Kontunen has over 30 years of versatile experience in various types of construction and development work, and he has worked in duties such as project manager for industrial and commercial projects, in zoning development projects and in several infrastructure and port construction projects both in the Hamina-Kotka region and beyond. Jari has previously been responsible for the operations of the Technical Department of the Port of Hamina Ltd, in 2003-2007. Jari Kontunen will move to his new position from the post of Head of Developer Operations of Sitowise Oy, where he has worked for example in the Sarens projects and in the Mussalo D-area project at the assignment of Port of HaminaKotka Ltd over the past 1.5 years.
Investment in ports declined and the investors became less interested in port projects in 2008, but there has been positive new growth in the past few years. New truly significant projects have begun and are beginning at the port.
“There will certainly be challenges ahead, and there will be an apparent need for project management expertise in the next five years. Networking and partnerships are therefore in a key role in the control of growth. Growing cargo flows require efficient transport connections, and the port must also contribute to these. The government has a decisive role especially in the enhancement of rail and road connections. It is to be hoped that the ongoing large-scale investments and future investments in the port areas of HaminaKotka support these plans,” says Jari Kontunen.
In his own organisation, Jari Kontunen wants to highlight the importance of customer service; the needs and objectives of the companies operating at the port must be understood, and the goal must be to put these together into a package which everyone should pursue systematically in their own duties. The personnel of the port are knowledgeable and partly well-known to Jari Kontunen from before.
“I want to find a good working atmosphere through open discussion, listening to others, and perhaps I also have something to bring from other corporate cultures,” says Jari Kontunen.
Jari Kontunen is originally from Hamina and lives there today, too. His current hobbies include golf, which he took on after decades of hesitation. Golf is also an integral part of his trips abroad, and he tends to pack at least his golf shoes in the suitcase. In the summer, Jari’s leisure time is spent moving on land and sea as well as at the summer cottage on a nearby island.
