The Transport Ministry is looking to establish a national shipping company in an effort to promote maritime trade.
Deputy Transport Minister Manaporn Charoensri said on Monday she had ordered the Port Authority of Thailand to conduct a feasibility study for the cabinet to review.
PAT director Kriengkrai Chaisiriwongsuk, meanwhile, said the PAT has submitted the result of the study to the Transport Ministry, which will decide if the shipping company should be run as a state enterprise or under a public-private partnership model.
The cabinet will also consider if the project should be promoted by the Thailand Board of Investment, he said.
Mr Kriengkrai explained that the PAT ultimately wants to have both domestic and international shipping routes, but it would be focusing on eight domestic routes.
Among the eight, three routes are not currently served by private companies, namely Map Ta Phut Port in Rayong-Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri, Firesun Port in Samut Songkhram-Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri and Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri-Surat Thani Port.
Sources said the PAT prefers to have the company run under a PPP model to enable quick and flexible administration.
Initially, the cargo shipping company would contribute about 2% of Thailand's export and import trade value, or about 31,005 twenty-foot equivalent standard container units (TEU).
The national shipping line plans to start with four container ships, the sources said.