• TPM25
  • March 2-5, 2025 | Long Beach Convention Center

Heather Hwang

LX Pantos

Market Intelligence Team Lead

Heather Hwang leads LX Pantos’s Market Intelligence team. She joined LX Pantos in 2017, a Korea's #1 forwarder, #6 global logistics provider with 45 years of experience and 1.6 million TEUs. Her responsibilities include supporting strategic business initiatives by providing data-based intelligence and analysis of the maritime shipping market. She is a regular speaker at industry events and college and her analysis have been quoted in general business news media.

Heather Hwang began her career at the headquarters of Hanjin Shipping in 2008, where she was responsible for negotiating contracts for Asian terminals. From 2011 to 2016, she focused on maritime shipping market analysis and developing forecasting models, serving as an advisor to government agencies and related organizations.

Heather holds a master's degree in economics from Korea University. She will be obtaining Executive Master of Business Administration from Aalto University in February 2025. 

Sessions With Heather Hwang

Monday, 3 March

  • 10:30am - 11:30am (PST) / 03/mar/2025 06:30 pm - 03/mar/2025 07:30 pm

    Container Shipping Outlook: What a Volatile 2024 Means for the Future
    2024 began with many industry observers and stakeholders expecting a familiar brew of widening vessel capacity outpacing modest inventory restocking in North America and Europe, putting downward pressure on rates but lacking the volatility of the pandemic era. It didn’t turn out that way. Diversions prompted by Houthi rebel attacks reformulated the ship capacity equation by forcing longer sailings. Tariffs and labor threats, and inventory jitters pulled demand from Asia to North America and Europe earlier. The speed at which the container market turned this spring should give the industry pause. The decades of carrier consolidation, coupled with better information and more aggressive pricing efforts when the market is in carriers’ favor, is ultimately making ocean carriers more effective in controlling capacity. What that means in the face of new ship deliveries is unclear, and so, too, is the degree to which the reforming of two new alliance networks increases competition. On the micro level, trust between shippers and carriers is the lowest it's been in years. The lofty hopes of a breakthrough in shipper-carrier relations out of the ashes of pandemic-driven disruption have been dashed. Under higher inventory-carrying costs, shippers often feel a sharper bite from a lack of ocean reliability, while carriers argue that shaky volume forecasts and price bashing challenge their best efforts to deliver consistently. Both sides decry the lack of an enforceable contract. It’s against this backdrop, that a diversity of voices — a carrier, forwarder, industry analyst and investment analyst — will weigh in at TPM25 on the blend of capacity, demand and reliability for the next 18 months, while taking a clear-eyed view of the implications for shipper-carrier relations.  
View Full Agenda