8 – 9 October 2025 | Hamburg, Germany
FOREMAST participated in the International Conference on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (ICMASS), held on 8–9 October 2025 in Hamburg, Germany. FOREMAST was proudly represented alongside its sister projects, including AUTOFLEX, highlighting the strong collaboration within the EU innovation ecosystem for smart and sustainable inland waterway mobility.
ICMASS gathered leading voices in maritime autonomy, offering an excellent platform for EU projects like FOREMAST to engage with stakeholders, industry leaders, and innovators. This joint presence strengthened visibility and reinforced the shared commitment to advancing greener and smarter mobility solutions.
A key moment for FOREMAST at ICMASS was the presentation delivered by FOREMAST partner Ghazaleh Kia from SEAFAR. She showcased the project’s objectives, progress, and contributions to the development of autonomous inland waterway vessels. Her presentation received positive attention and helped position FOREMAST as a forward-looking initiative within the sector. In addition, Ghazaleh actively distributed FOREMAST communication materials, including the newly released Knowledge Card.
Following ICMASS, on 10 October 2025, the focus shifted to the AUTOFLEX Stakeholder Meeting, where Muriel Andurand from CIRCOE represented FOREMAST. During the session on incentivising the uptake of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), Muriel presented the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) decision-support tool developed by CIRCOE within the FOREMAST project.
This user-friendly tool evaluates the viability of Small Flexible Autonomous Zero Emission (SFAZ) vessels compared to diesel and electric trucks for last-mile urban deliveries, using:
Operational cost thresholds (€/ton × operational hours),
Carbon emissions (WTW kgCO₂e) calculated using the ADEME energy mix index,
Real-world pilot data collected at an early stage of the project.
Her contribution demonstrated how FOREMAST is providing practical, data-driven tools to support the wider adoption of autonomous and sustainable solutions in logistics.
As AUTOFLEX is a sister project, this event provided an excellent opportunity to build on the momentum from ICMASS, exchange insights, discuss technological advancements, and explore synergies between ongoing EU initiatives.
The team looked forward to meeting participants in Hamburg and showcasing how FOREMAST was driving innovation towards smarter and more sustainable inland waterway mobility.
