Unmanned ships
There is a big debate going on at present looking into the possibility of unmanned ships with Captains sitting in a shore based control room navigating up to 5 ships at a time. Believe the EU are funding a project about all this. There is a big discussion thread on LINKEDIN about this subject.
There is also another thread on LINKEDIN about legalizing marijuana for medicinal use by seafarers after a number of states in the USA have legalized the drug for medicinal use.
And we thought it was bad enough coping with the alkies, imagine what will happen if they do legalize marijuana at sea, there will be sailors wandering round with flowers in their hair, wearing tie dyed tees and sandals going "hey man, peace and brotherhood" and smokos will consist of the crew sitting round meditating on the colour of the ocean whilst strumming on the guitar.
rgds
JA