Japanese Nippon Express hoping to start special mail delivery service
Major transport company Nippon Express Co. plans to launch a special mail delivery service, possibly within 2004, informed sources said Saturday.
The company has already submitted an application for a business license to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, which may approve it Tuesday, the sources said.
Nippon Express would become the first major transport firm to begin special mail deliveries since April last year when the government allowed private firms to handle mail delivery on certain conditions, including delivery within three hours.
Nippon Express will initially limit its business area for the new service to Yokohama but it is also eyeing nationwide services, the sources said.
The company’s plan follows the Yokohama municipal government’s introduction of competitive bidding to select a company to deliver mail between its offices, according to the sources.
Prospective bidders are required to have a business license for special mail deliveries, which is why Nippon Express has applied for one.
If the company wins the bid, it will start delivering Yokohama municipal government documents before the end of the year, the sources said.
About a dozen small and mid-sized courier companies, most of them engaging in the business using motorcycles, have entered the market as the service does not oblige companies to meet strict conditions such as setting up post boxes.
There have been no companies that have entered the regular nationwide mail delivery service, which requires companies to set up 100,000 post boxes, among other conditions.
