Yamato abandons plan to enter mail delivery industry
Yamato Transport Co. said Friday it has abandoned plans to enter into the mail delivery service industry, as the government’s moves to privatize the field are likely to put too many requirements on new entrants.
The contents of the privatization plan seem to “put private companies on a short leash, and you cannot expect fair competition,” said Keiji Aritomi, the president of Japan’s largest parcel delivery service operator, at a press conference.
Yamato Transport, the only entity with a nationwide network in the delivery industry, had expressed keen interest in entering the field if it were opened to private-sector companies under the initiative of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his cabinet.
Yamato Transport’s decision to not enter the postal services sector will also complicate the Koizumi cabinet’s plan to establish a nationwide privately run mail delivery service.
Koizumi told reporters Friday evening that he had not yet heard about Yamato Transport’s decision.
Meanwhile, Sagawa Express Co., another major delivery service company, also expressed unwillingness Friday to enter the field.
Critics are predicting the Yamato Transport decision will affect Diet deliberations on the issue of privatizing the postal services.
Earlier Friday, the Koizumi cabinet endorsed two of a package of four bills to deregulate the postal industry, overriding fierce opposition from some heavyweights in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The two bills cover postal deregulation and the establishment of a new public corporation to take over the state-run postal services. The remaining two bills cover detailed policies for implementation of the plans.
The government is expected to submit the two endorsed bills to the Diet shortly.
Postal service privatization is one of Koizumi’s pet structural reform strategies, but it is also a highly political issue as there are many lawmakers in the ruling parties with vested interests in postal services.
Yamato Transport’s Aritomi said if the field is privatized as designed by the bills, private entities wishing to enter the field would be required to obtain authorization on too many aspects of operations.
“It would instead be like publicizing private companies” rather than privatization, Aritomi said.
Yamato Transport could surmount the expected requirements if it “pushed against reason,” he said, but added, unless many companies enter the field and compete freely, privatization will ultimately contribute little to public convenience.
