SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) — Precious Shipping Pcl, Thailand's largest shipping company by market value, plans to find replacements for vessels it has sold from the second half of the year, when it expects prices to decline.

"We'd like to replace whatever we've sold," Managing Director Khalid Hashim said in an interview in Singapore. "We're looking at the secondhand market. The idea is buying when rates are really low, when no one wants to buy."

Precious has already sold 15 older vessels from its fleet this year, Hashim said. A handysize ship of five years or less currently sells for between $20 million to $24 million in the secondhand market, compared with about $40 million to $55 million a year ago, he said.

The number of vessels scrapped this year may triple to 1,000, Lloyds List said in February, citing Anil Sharma, president of Global Marketing Systems Inc., the world's largest cash buyer of ships. Scrapping is increasing on a trade slump caused by China cutting imports of iron ore and US and European consumers paring spending on Asian-made goods.

At the same time, new ships are entering service as shipyards complete orders placed two or three years ago, when trade was booming.

Precious Shipping has 32 ships in its fleet currently, three of which have already been sold and are yet to be handed to new buyers. The company expects to take delivery of 18 new ships starting from middle of next year, Hashim said.