Mathias Karhula was working as a maintenance engineer at UPM's Kaukas pulp mill in Lappeenranta when he was offered the opportunity to go to Uruguay to work on the massive pulp mill project in Paso de los Toros as a mechanical supervisor for the erection of the turbine plant.
“I felt that it was a unique opportunity to participate in such a large project. I had a permanent job at UPM, and I had heard how well everything was organized for project workers by UPM. It lowered the threshold for going on a secondment abroad,” he says.
The motivation was also to learn a lot that would be useful in my future career.
The departure fell in the summer of 2021, when the corona restrictions were still in force.
"It took a lot of paperwork to get me to fly to the country. Everything else was easy compared to that."
Karhula left alone, but after a few months the rest of the family, his forestry engineer wife and three children, followed.
"We lived in a house built by UPM like other Finns, and the children attended a Finnish school connected to the local school. Only the youngest had to start at a local kindergarten, as there was no separate kindergarten for Finns."
The local work culture required adaptation
Matias Karhula's work in Uruguay included installation supervision, planning, holding meetings with contractors, and ensuring occupational safety. Although the work was similar to that in Finland, everything was on a bigger scale.
20000
people worked on project-related construction sites
“Every day was different, and I learned a lot of new things. The work days went by really quickly, as there was always a lot to do and a bit of a rush. However, it suited me well, as I work best under low pressure,” he says.
There were challenges, for example, in material deliveries. In addition, coordinating between contractors so that everyone could do their job safely required adapting to the local work culture.
"I planned everything carefully, for example that the crane would arrive at a certain time and the next team would start work immediately afterwards, but then the crane might not arrive until three hours after the appointment."
On the other hand, the locals were very friendly and welcomed us warmly from the start.
"It was quite a big cultural difference to go straight from corona-Finland to hugs and kisses on the cheek."
On weekends, we barbecued with a group
My free time in Uruguay was largely spent in the Finland bubble.
"We got together on the weekends to grill meat on a local charcoal grill at anyone's house. We invited locals along. The kids have remembered this fondly, and I'll probably have to build a similar grill in my own yard for the summer and invite friends to grill."
There were fewer hobbies in Uruguay than in Finland, but both children and adults could easily go horseback riding, and Karhula also went fishing with the children.
Matias Karhula returned home just before Easter and immediately started working at the Kaukas pulp mill, this time as a shift engineer on the production side. The Paso de los Toros pulp mill had reached technical readiness by then and was awaiting start-up permission from the Uruguayan authorities.
“We had a great time, and it would have been nice to stay in Uruguay longer and see the implementation phase, but I had already agreed to start a new position in Kaukaska. In addition, the family came home at the turn of the year, as the Finnish school closed down when most of the Finnish project workers returned home.”
