I'm getting something similar were if I uninstall it, everything goes black.

> Removing it when the ship is mid-flight will break the game (black screen and constant error messages).

Removing it at any time breaks the game. That happens even if you destroy any ships and remove all landing zones.

I found a fix for removing the mod without bricking the colony but unfortunately the fix does involve editing the save file so attempt at your own risk and MAKE A BACKUP.

Step 1: Remove any trader ship landing zones you have

Step 2: Remove Trader Ships from your mod list and reload the game.

Step 3: Open save file folder in the options menu

Step 4: Right click your save and edit the file (I suggest using Notepad++ as it will make this easier)

Step 5: Ctrl+f to open the search function and type in "traderships" (no quotes) and click find next - Also enable Wrap around on the left side of the search box

Step 6: anywhere it takes you where "traderships" apears needs to be deleted
- It will appear between a <li> and </li> syntax
- You need to drag select starting from the <li> syntax to the </li> syntax, making sure both are entirely selected and delete that section
- Make sure the blank line created by this is also deleted (not sure if necessary but it's what I did)

Step 7: Once all instances of "traderships" and their code blocks are deleted, save the file and close the editor.

Step 8: Load up your save and you should be good to go!

Hope this helps and if you have any issues let me know and I'll see if I can find a workaround!

Confirming Gilliam's suggestion works. I also had the black screen problem when trying to remove the mod, but it's good now.

I did not have to remove some references to "traderships" in the quest section of the xml file. I did have to remove a few references to zones and other things though.