Guest column: Hans Lundin: My 29 years on the board of the Port of Norrköping

2023-03-31

With the change of the municipal board in Norrköping after the 2022 election, there was also a change of Board for Norrköpings Hamn AB. It marked the end of my almost 30 years on the board and where I have resided as Chairman since 2007. An interesting and exciting journey from a private company to a municipal one and with a port development project that is the largest in the company’s history.

When I started as a board member it was a completely different time. ‘Norrköpings Hamn och Stuveri AB’ was a private company where the municipality was a minority owner and I was elected as a representative of the Social Democrats. In 2007, the company was taken over by the municipality of Norrköping and became a municipal company. It all happened on the initiative of the private owners and the transition was very successful. Customers who were previously co-owners were and still are, very satisfied with the development of the company. It was at that point I was elected Chairman of the board.

An exciting journey with successes, investments and urban development
The decision to invest in STS cranes, which enabled a completely different handling of goods and opened up for container traffic, was one of the bigger ones. It was a troubled time, but without that investment and that foresight, the company would not have been where it is today. I feel particularly proud of our efforts with work environment issues and the development on the personnel side, and also a growing number of women applying to the company.

But the strongest memory from my time is undoubtedly the strategic decision to move large parts of the harbor operations from the inner harbor parts of the city of Norrköping and out to Pampus and the expansion the port, which continues to this day. In recent years, we have given up land belonging to the harbor for hundreds of years and is now being developed into new trendy residential areas, developing and lifting the whole city, in a different way. There are several development issues facing the port and its surrounding area, that we have worked for many years to realize, including the Kardonbanan, the channel in Bråviken and, of course our port development. It has been an incredibly exciting journey to be able to influence all of this, for the future of Norrköping!

I have also had the privilege of working in a business that during my time never showed red numbers, despite major investments and the purchase of machinery A strong contributing factor to this is the good collaboration within the company between employees, the management team and the board.

It feels very sad, but I can look back on wonderful and exciting years. The atmosphere in the company has been, and still is, very good. There are many good forces on the new board of Norrköpings Hamn AB and I wish them continued success in the work of taking over the helm of the company!

Hans Lundin

Hans Lundin continues to be politically engaged and joins Östgötatrafiken’s board after the annual general meeting in April. He is also chairman of the condominium association where he and his wife live, in central Norrköping.

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The guest column is a commenting text and the columnist himself is responsible for analysis and taking a position in the text.