The National Logistics Development Committee yesterday agreed to launch a National Single Window (NSW) to reduce the time and cost of processing trade and shipping documents.
"This will make Thai corporations more competitive with lower logistics costs," a government source said.
The committee, which conducted its first meeting under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, also targeted to move forward with the establishment of the Asean Single Window by 2015.
The NSW will be under the Customs Department.
The project is aimed at linking information and technology for imports, exports and logistics between and among the public and private sectors.
The NSW system is expected to help corporations reduce their overall spending by Bt82 billion to Bt100 billion a year.
The groundwork for the project was laid in July 2008, when government agencies and participants signed a memorandum to develop and improve information technology, including the implementation of digital signatures to promote electronic data linkage between participating agencies.
The committee assigned the Customs Department to set sub-targets for each action period so performance can be assessed more clearly.
It also called for the NSW system development plan to be divided into six-month, two-year and five-year phases.
Budgets for supporting the NSW will be the responsibility of the PM's secretary, the source said.
Thailand saw its ranking in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index drop to 35th place this year from 31st in 2007. Regionally, Thailand still lagged behind Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia, but came ahead of the Philippines, India and Vietnam.
Logistics costs in 2008 totalled Bt1.7 trillion, or 18.6 per cent of gross domestic product, which was a slight improvement from 18.8 per cent in 2007.
The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) proposed three priority tasks for the committee to enhance the logistics industry. First, link up via IT all agencies that issue certificates and licences involving logistics to the NSW. Second, encourage the use of modal shift transport to save energy and draft legal measures to support border transport. And last, develop human resources for the industry.
The committee assigned the NESDB to create indicators to measure the country's logistics performance by product and industry, the source added.