The Yomiuri Shimbun Kawagoe mill Started direct delivery operation Paper shift
The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings
Nippon Paper Industries Co.,Ltd.
Japan Freight Railway Company
The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings Tokyo head office (President and Representative Director: Akitoshi Muraoka),Nippon Paper Industries Co.,Ltd.(President and Representative Director: Akira Sebe), Japan Freight Railway Company (JR Freight,President and Representative Director: Arata Inukai), Nanko Transport Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director) : Mitsuo Ueno) from September 2025 as part of environmental measures and truck driver shortage measures,Nippon Paper Industries Co.,Ltd.mill(Iwanuma City, Miyagi Prefecture) to Yomiuri Shimbun Kawagoe mill(Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture) has started direct delivery by modal shift (switching truck-centered freight transportation to transportation centered on railways and ships). Conventional newspaper transport had to be transshipped from rail containers to trucks at the warehouses where they were consumed. By delivering the railway container directly to the printingmill, it can be expected to have an even greater effect on combating labor shortages.
The four companies established“Newspaper Transportation Efficiency Council”in September 2024 and received business certification from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under the Comprehensive Logistics Efficiency Act in December of the same year. Business certification Paper for intermodal transportation by rail containers from paper millto newspaper printingmillis a pioneering initiative in the newspaper industry.
In this initiative, newspaper paper produced at Nippon Paper Industries Co.,Ltd.'s Iwanumamillwill be loaded into a railway container from the dedicated line platform in themilland transported to JR Freight's Niiza Freight Terminal Station (Niiza City, Saitama Prefecture), and then transported to the Yomiuri Shimbun Kawagoemillin a container transport vehicle. The series of transportation from the production mill to the destination is arranged by Nanko Transport, a logistics subsidiary of Nippon Paper Industries Co.,Ltd. Trial operation began on September 3, and full-scale operation will begin in January 2026, when the new Kawagoemillunder construction on the adjacent site will start operation.
Previously, about 8,750tonneof newspaper were transported annually for about 360 kilometers from Nippon Paper Industries' Iwanumamill to the Kawagoemillvia a warehouse in Saitama Prefecture using about 730 trucks (equivalent to 12tonneof load). This initiative will switch from papermillto newspaper printingmillto deliver directly without going through warehouses. By switching this transport to a modal shift centered on freight railways, CO2 emissions will be reduced by 594tonneper year, or about 87%, and driver driving time will be reduced by 4,745 hours per year, or about 93%.
There will continue toPaperbe concerns about the lack of trucking capacity in newspaper logistics, and it is necessary to secure drivers, review transportation methods, and improve efficiency. In addition, reducing CO2 emissions during transportation is also an urgent issue. We believe that such initiatives through collaboration between companies will help solve problems, and we will promote the spread of the newspaper industry as a whole.
■Comment from the Yomiuri Shimbun
The stablePapernewspaper rolls is an important issue in newspaper publishing. As one solution to improve logistics efficiency and combat driver shortages, we will work on modal shifts using railway containers. The effect of environmental measures is also significant, and in addition to various existing activities such as the introduction of solar power generation equipment and tree planting throughout the country, we will continue to promotedecarbonizationmeasures and contribute to the sustainable development of the entire local community.
■Nippon Paper Industries 
The Company have been actively promoting modal shifting to a long time, and we have also been certified as an Eco Rail Mark by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Improving logistics efficiency cannot be achieved by one company alone, and this time we were able to achieve this with the cooperation of our customers, such as securing lead times and reviewing cargo handling methods. We will continue to strengthen cooperation throughout the supply chain and contribute to the construction of a sustainable society and logistics.
■Comment from Japan Freight Railway
Due to the environmental characteristics of CF 2 emissions from freight rail transportation that are about 11 times that of commercial trucks, we will continue to work with the Yomiuri Shimbun,Nippon Paper Industries, and Nanko Transport to promote initiatives to realize a green society in order to solve Social Issuessuch as carbon neutrality for customers and labor shortages represented by the 2024 problem.