Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s private advisory panel on the state-run postal services agreed Tuesday to propose three options for privatizing the services in the future in its final report to be compiled in early September.
Read MoreInaugural president chosen for his private-sector track record The Asahi Shimbun Masaharu Ikuta, a 67-year-old shipping line executive, will be the first president of the new public corporation that takes over the nation’s postal services in April, the government said Monday
Ikuta is currently chairman of Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. and vice chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai)Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Toranosuke Katayama intentionally chose someone with a proven track record in the private sector
“I wanted to appoint him because, rather than having a bureaucratic background, he is a private sector executive,” Koizumi said of the appointment
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed Tuesday to appoint someone from the private sector to head a new public corporation to be established next April to run the nation’s postal services, posts and telecommunications minister Toranosuke Katayama said.
Katayama, who heads the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, said he discussed potential candidates for the top postal job with Koizumi at the prime minister’s office Tuesday afternoon.
Deutsche Post AG, parent of express courier firm DHL International Ltd., said Monday the overseas mail services operated by DHL in Japan will carry the Deutsche Post brand from this autumn.
In Japan, DHL has operated large-volume overseas mail services for corporate customers, handling such items as direct mail and catalogs, since early 2001, on top of overseas package services.
Deutsche Post, which raised its stake in DHL to over 75 pct in July, has decided to integrate DHL’s overseas mail services in Japan to its Deutsche Post Global Mail Service, a spokesman said.
The overseas package services in Japan will continue under the DHL brand, the spokesman said.
Deutsche Post AG, Europe’s largest postal/transport services company, plans to begin an international mail service in Japan this autumn, sources close to the matter said, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Sunday edition reported. The German company will use the parcel-collection network that affiliate DHL International Ltd. operates in Japan to send overseas large quantities of direct mail of Japanese companies at cut-rate prices. The planned move is designed to pre-empt the Japanese government plan to expand the scope of overseas mail services when Postal Public Corp. is established next year. The new public corporation is expected to face immediate competition from private companies in the international business. Deutsche Post is entering the Japanese market as part of efforts to expand its Global Mail Service worldwide. Most of the work will be outsourced to affiliate DHL Japan Inc., but the service will be offered under the Deutsche Post brand.
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