7th Successful Edition of MASHCON in Bruges – Looking Ahead to Madrid 2028
Bruges, Belgium – May 2025 – The 7th International Conference on Manoeuvring in Shallow and Confined Water (MASHCON 2025) took place from 18 to 21 May 2025 in the historic city of Bruges, Belgium. This conference brings together researchers, engineers, and maritime professionals to exchange insights on the challenges and innovations in ship manoeuvring in shallow and confined waters. More than 70 participants from 13 countries and 32 institutes/organisations attended the event, highlighting the international scope and collaborative spirit of the conference. MASHCON is jointly organized by Flanders Hydraulics – Department of Mobility and Public Works (Flanders) and the Ships and Marine Technology Division at Ghent University.
Clean power in shallow waters
This year’s conference placed a strong focus on clean power in shallow waters, addressing the maritime green energy transition, near-shore emissions, and alternative propulsion methods, such as wind-assisted manoeuvring. The programme also covered a wide range of other critical topics, including:
- Green energy transition in inland and coastal waters
- Smart shipping in confined waters
- Innovative manoeuvring techniques using auxiliary propulsion
- Ship design for shallow water using computational and experimental fluid dynamics
- Ship-bottom, ship-bank, ship-ship and ship-wave interaction dynamics
Over the course of four days, 36 peer-reviewed papers were presented, showcasing groundbreaking research and forward-thinking solutions to support a more sustainable maritime sector.
“MASHCON 2025 provided an invaluable platform for collaboration and the exchange of knowledge across disciplines, with the shared goal of improving safety, efficiency, and environmental performance in maritime navigation,” said the conference organizers.
The conference proceedings are now freely available via open access, allowing researchers, industry stakeholders, and the public to benefit from the wealth of knowledge shared at the event.
The organizers sincerely thank all speakers, participants, sponsors, and partners for their contributions to the success of MASHCON 2025.
Conference proceedings
Save the Date: MASHCON 2028
Looking ahead, the organizing committee is pleased to announce that the 8th edition of MASHCON will take place in Madrid in May 2028.
