. . . to transport hard cash - paid out of the retailers local accounts - to other BIG starports, so that the crews of the stranded container ships can be paid to proceed onward with contracted voyages and the day-to-day expenses of the freighters themselves can be paid.

Even when you add in the transport fees charged by the Free Traders, it's not really THAT much more than the retailers had (presumably) already have paid to have the stock shipped in the first place. Of course, it's a bummer for the retailers to have to pay for shipping twice like this, but it's infinitely better than not having enough stock to sell. And they could likely recoup most of it in slight price increases.

Of course, they would vastly prefer to have the taxpayer foot the bill . . . both in the TU and in the real world.