Yamato Transport Files Antitrust Suit against Japan Post
Yamato Transport Co. said Tuesday it has filed an antitrust suit against Japan Post in an attempt to stop the public corporation’s tie-up with Lawson Inc. , a major convenience store chain, in the parcel delivery business.
In the suit, filed with Tokyo District Court, Yamato Transport is seeking an injunction to the parcel delivery agency service Lawson plans to offer from November under its contract with Japan Post. The company, acting on the basis of Article 24 of the Antimonopoly Law, is also demanding cancellation of the contract between Lawson and Japan Post, which the government plans to break up and privatize in stages from April 2007.
Yamato Transport, Japan’s leading door-to-door parcel delivery service provider, claims that Japan Post has used improper profits to tempt Lawson to become agents of its “Yu-Pack” parcel delivery service in violation of the law’s Article 19.
Japan Post’s “Yu-Pack” service should not be offered at prices lower than private parcel delivery companies’ service prices that have been reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it said.
Yamato Transport said it has decided to take Japan Post to court in order to level the playing field.
In August, Lawson, Japan’s second largest convenience store chain, announced a plan to cancel its exclusive parcel delivery service contract with Yamato Transport in order to start handling “Yu-Pack” parcels in November at its 7,800 outlets across Japan.
Yamato Transport rejected Lawson’s request to enter a new, nonexclusive contract, so the two firm’s alliance will be discontinued in November when the exclusive contract expires.
Yamato Transport, known for its “Kuroneko Yamato” parcel delivery service with a logo of black cats, has been strengthening ties with convenience stores, regarding them as important distribution stations.
In a full-page advertisement published in Japan’s 38 newspapers in late August, Yamato Transport criticized Japan Post’s entry into the convenience store-based parcel delivery business, saying it represents undue pressure on private-sector operations by a government enterprise.
Yamato Transport insisted in the ad that Japan Post’s entry into direct competition with the private sector in the parcel delivery field is unfair because Japan Post profits from postal services that it monopolizes, and receives various tax benefits that are not available to private companies.
