Merging conventionally navigating ships and MASS - Merging VTS, FOC and SCC?

Current maritime transportation and shipping is characterized by rapid technological developments effecting the basic concepts of operating ships and even changing traditional paradigms of controlling ships. The e-Navigation concept of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) specifically aims at more comprehensive and reliable support of the human operators on-board and ashore. However, autonomous unmanned ships remote controlled or even autonomously navigating are expected to come soon. In this paper, selected operational aspects of maritime traffic merging conventional and unmanned remote controlled ships in coastal areas are discussed. Furthermore, some preliminary results of experimental simulation studies into a future scenario of maritime traffic are presented and preliminary conclusions in respect to job profiling and training requirements are discussed.