I totally agree. I make my money hauling slaves/cardi and since 4.86 came out those Lost Star vigilantes (now freelancers) have been dominating T23 totally. A handful of freelancers keeping the OC empire at bay, because a lot of OC players are only intersted in doing their own thing / don't talk/respond...
With fear of sounding as a hypocrite (because really I ought to try and do something about it myself instead of whining), if our leadership was more active / took more of an interest in these "lowbrow" matters, a coordinated effort could be carried out to leave the vital trade routes open.