Koizumi welcomes courier

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday welcomed a reported plan on postal-services deregulation.

Tokyo-based Sokuhai, established in 1984, delivers business items within a few hours for clients in the Tokyo and Osaka areas using 800 motorcycles and bicycles.

Commenting on the news report, a Sokuhai official said the company will have to decide whether to launch mail service after relevant ordinances are established following the bill’s parliamentary passage.

The postal deregulation bill would allow private firms to handle mail delivery on certain conditions including delivery within three hours.

The bill is part of four postal bills the government of Koizumi, a strong advocate of freer postal services, submitted to the Diet earlier this month.

“I expect firms to enter the (mail delivery) market one after another” following the move by Sokuhai, Koizumi said.

It is uncertain whether Koizumi’s postal bills will pass the ongoing Diet session.

Some senior members of Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), especially those with vested interests in the postal services, are stiffly opposing postal deregulation.

The reported move by Sokuhai came after Yamato Transport Co., Japan’s largest door-to-door courier, scrapped plans last month to enter mail delivery.

Yamato complained the proposed postal deregulation would put tough requirements on prospective entrants.

JIJI 30th May 2002
SOKUHAI MULLING ENTRY INTO MAIL BUSINESS IN JAPAN

Tokyo, May 30 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s leading motorcycle delivery service company Sokuhai Co. is considering entering the mail delivery business in Japan under new legislation for postal service deregulation, company officials said Thursday.

The currently state-monopolized mail service will open up for private-sector firms if the Diet passes four bills related to postal deregulation. A House of Representatives committee started discussing the bills Thursday.

Sokuhai plans to decide whether to apply for its entry after the bills become law and detailed requirements for entrants are made clear.

The bills specify two forms of entry–one for serving all over Japan, and the other for serving limited areas. Sokuhai plans to choose the latter, because entry requirements for nationwide operations are expected to be strict.

The company, which offers delivery services mainly to corporate customers in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is hoping to allure individual customers through its entry into the postal service.

Major Japanese parcel delivery service provider Yamato Transport Co. earlier said it does not intend to enter the postal market under the current government plan.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi welcomed Sokuhai’s market entry plan, saying one entry will encourage many other firms to follow suit.

Koizumi also said he is hoping to see the postal deregulation bills become law at an early date.