The positive outlook for LNG commodity and LNG shipping markets, as well as historically low newbuild prices, resulted in both existing LNG carrier owners and new entrants ordering new vessels. "Based on 2018 newbuilding orders and current forecasts of LNG supply growth, we now believe that the LNG shipping market is heading towards a balanced state early next decade. As such, the requirement for additional shipping capacity in this period has now been largely addressed. This implies that newbuilding order activity in 2019 needs to slow relative to 2018 levels in order to reduce the risk of vessel oversupply," GasLog said.