Just quickly, as this has possibly been discussed ad nauseam:
There are more reasons for ganks, than dank loot and juicy killmails. Letās take a look at empty freighters being ganked and letās focus on the fact that this is a lose-lose.
Is it a lose-lose?
For the victim it means the loss of the ship, which could have cost them anywhere between 1 and 11 Billion in case of a JF. Now, they get some back due to insurance. But nevertheless, they lose. They lose money and they lose operational time. They might also lose their nerves. Clearly a loss.
How about the attacker? They lose all their ganking ships, and only might get some back by looting the modules or salvaging, if they care. They lose time as well, which they could have used in different other ways to make profit, instead of loss, right? Looks like a loss too.
Now, creating a lose-lose is a pretty standard move in the economic world. Companies lower the prices at their own losses in order to get rid of competition, in some cases drive other companies or even entire states into bankrupcy. In order to profit from a lose-lose you need to have the economical advantage, i.e. fatter pockets.
When Goons/Code are ganking empty Freighters in Highsec, they deliberately create a situation in which both sides lose, because it hits the victim much harder. The loss of a few JF/Freighters could mean the end of operations for some. And if it were just that, Goons would invest some pocket money to drive others into bankrupcy. But I assume it doesnāt stop there. In order to produce Freighters, you need a lot of minerals. Who has a lot of Minerals? Exactly. The same goes for Talosi. So what they are doing is this: rather than selling X minerals to an oversaturated market, they turn X minerals into a loss of Y ISK for the victim and they also create new demand.
In short: ganking is also a means to hold economically weaker entitities down, while also positively influencing the price for your own sourced minerals.
If there is some nice cargo in the Freighter: all the better. The soldiers will be happy to get some. For the strategists behind it, it doesnāt really matter. One could shoot the wreck for all they care.
I mean, thatās what I assume, because that would be what I would decide, if I were in the place to do that. That being said, there are surely personal motives behind ganking empty Freighters, such as killmails or general lust for creating dismay, but the whole thing wouldnāt happen on that scale, if it was only that.
The strange thing is that other large powerhouses who source Trillions in Minerals arenāt doing the same.