Netbay has expanded its business to provide e-payment gateway support to freight forwarders. The company uses Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) to connect back-office operations of five government agencies to e-Customs as part of the National Single Windows initiative.

Pichit Viwatrujirapong, managing director of Netbay, an e-logistics gateway provider, said the company will focus on providing e-payment services to freight forwarders, shipping agents, traders and other import- and export-related related businesses.

It will integrate its payment gateway services with ten banks, including Krungsri Bank, Citibank, Bangkok Bank Standard Chartered Bank and Krung Thai Bank, this year.

The company is also adopting the ebXML standard to link the back-office operations of the Department of Industrial Works, the Board of Investment, the Department of Mineral Fuels, the Department of Energy Business and the Department of Foreign Trade to the Customs Department.

"Normally, businesses spend about 15 to 22 days to complete all import- and export-related processes. The link now allows businesses to complete the process within a day," Pichit said.

As the next step, 23 other government agencies involved in the process are planning to improve their infrastructure to connect to the Customs Department and soon will be able to offer paperless services.

Read the complete article by Jirapan Boonnoon in The Nation.