Yes, thanks. It's been spelled out before, but this demonstrably clarifies the trade expense/pay-off time frame.
Exactly what trade represents is never really made clear in the game anyways, since it doesn't at all fit the model of comparative advantage that drives real-world trading activities.
Speculation abounds regarding the true nature of trade between the races, and the correlation to the lack of reliable antimatter reserves. Personally, I think there is an inordinate amount of interstellar contraband being proffered amongst the various merchants of the races, and that Pirates obviously drive a Black Market replete with illicit inter-species sex trade and controlled substances fueled by demand for a form of synthetic anti-matter. Reportedly, this artificial antimatter while being "enhanced" in it's initial potency, has an accelerated half-life requiring copious amounts of recurring replenishment's to maintain the increased effectiveness and thereby insuring the recurring demand. Periodic "corrections" to the demand cycle occur once a critical mass plateau is reached and the law of averages plays out in favor of more traditional risk/reward dynamics. The apparent "loss" of income your seeing at trade lane star bases is merely the vacuum of monetized evidence left by the "skim" flowing to the Pirates.
In fact, if you look very closely upon certain trade ships, they actually bypass the main trade docks at Star Bases and maintain a shell orbit near side intake portals adjacent to the Diplomatic Customs stations. Of note is the somewhat curious behavior and appearance of these smuggler types. "Synth-Matter" as it's known, has bizarre and unpredictable effects on those in prolonged proximity. After repeated phase journeys, the side effects take their inevitable toll on the cargo dock crews and also the passengers of these smuggler class trade ships. In fact if you look very, very closely, you will see hopped-up dock workers along with scantily clad slave-trade cargo meandering about the cargo bays. Apparently Synth-Matter fallout exposure affects the ocular organs of all races in a pronounced sensitivity to visible spectrum emissions, so most resort to darkened visi-shields. One account has it that because of this need for "sunglasses" a popular ruse often used by Vasari smugglers is that they pass for insect-looking jazz musicians carting their instruments through a back stage door type of Diplomatic "wave-through", while Advent sex-traders play the part of groupies.
Of course, all of this is common knowledge among the trade class, and political repercussions are inversely proportional to the diplomatic demand for censure.
