Getting things moving
Working for a parcel-delivery company in Tokyo requires expert driving skills, the ability to pinpoint locations quickly, and a keen insight into the psychology of traffic wardens.
Drivers without the third capability can end up costing their employers dearly.
As a former logistics consultant explains: “When the driver of a truck is double-parked and about to make a delivery, he’ll use a felt pen and a piece of cardboard or something to write ‘Now doing a delivery’ to avoid having the parking warden give him a ticket.
“The driver doesn’t use a nicely printed sign, because that would show that he double-parks on a regular basis. And the handwriting makes the warden realise that he’s dealing with a hard-working person like himself.”
Trucks with two drivers, meanwhile, play another type of game with the parking enforcers, who also work in pairs. “One guy will run into the building to make his delivery while the other will be sitting in the vehicle ready to come up with excuses for the guys in green,” says the ex-consultant, referring to the colour of parking wardens’ uniforms.
“ ‘Oh, my partner will be out in a minute,’ he’ll say, with a sense of urgency. But if the warden sees that the truck is still there 10 minutes later, then the driver needs to make a follow-up excuse, like, ‘I just called him on my mobile a second ago, and he said he was coming out now.’ ”
When all excuses fail, the vehicle is ticketed and the fine borne by the drivers’ employer.
This game of cat and mouse may seem amusing, but it also illustrates a broader problem that the EBC Logistics and Freight Committee takes very seriously. At issue is the discriminatory treatment private parcel and express companies endure in relation to Express Mail Service (EMS), the parcel delivery service of the privatised Japan Post.
Although EMS is now in direct competition with the likes of DHL and TNT, Japan’s armies of traffic wardens still view the post office as part of a public service. Hence, they’re willing to look the other way when the red postal trucks double park, despite chasing after EMS’s competitors.
The Committee claims that EMS enjoys a raft of other privileges thanks to its legacy status. For instance, EMS packages are subject to customs declaration only on goods valued over ¥200,000, considerably higher than the level for the private-sector competitors.
The situation has created an uneven playing field in a highly competitive industry. Due to the parking problem, many companies are forced to employ extra drivers with well-honed diplomatic skills, or otherwise pay an endless stream of parking fines.
“EMS certainly gets preferential treatment,” says Donald McGarva, committee chairman and senior vice-president of DHL Supply Chain, for North Asia. “That’s given us additional costs, no doubt about that … and it creates issues all the way through the supply chain.”
McGarva says the committee is in the process of compiling evidence on unfair parking enforcement. The figures are to be handed over to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), as part of the committee’s advocacy efforts.
A separate issue for the committee is a legal ban on foreign freight forwarders participating in Japan’s domestic air-freight forwarding business.
Andreas Behnke, Japan country manager for Panalpina World Transport (Japan), says, “This basically means that we’re forced to rely on our competitors to move cargo domestically by air. As you would imagine, being forced to rely on your competitors is not a great situation to be in.”
Behnke, whose Swiss-based company is a global freight forwarder, says the regulation banning foreigners from that segment of the forwarding industry has no rationale whatsoever.
Then there’s the issue of customs clearance. As the 2009 EBC White Paper points out, the minimum value for imported shipments subject to duties is ¥10,000, a level the committee views as too low. In EU member states, by comparison, the figure is €150 (approximately ¥18,000).
These were among the issues that McGarva, along with his counterparts from the EBC committees of Automobile, Airlines and Railways, raised directly with the Japanese Government. The EBC delegation met with Mr. Seiichi Ohkuchi, the vice-minister for international affairs of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the ministry’s building on 16 February.
“The challenge is not just speaking up for European companies. I think it’s really about making sure Japan has a competitive landscape domestically that will benefit Japanese companies as well,” says McGarva, whose committee comprises eight member companies. “That, in the end, will be good for Japan and Japanese consumers.”