The first point doesn’t hold though. it is always better to have a ship run with cargo than without, in terms of efficiency. Afterall the point of the ship moving is to transport cargo.
For the cooling i am also sceptical. It was common all over Europe to trade with ice cut out of glaciers and frozen lakes until the invention of the cooling pump made electrical fridges a thing. If you store the ice in somewhat well insulated containers, it will cool itself quite decently for long travels. Icecellars were common to hold Ice that was collected in winter and lasted for cooling all throughout the year even in the mediteranian areas.
I also find this business obscene, but i do not see, that it would be more harmful, than sending empty ships around the world.
I would argue that there is many ways to preserve wider appeal w.o. it having to be boring.
Heck even in this kitchen if all that was wrong was the paint job, you can fix that in a weekend.
But it is the floor and working top, the shape of the cabinets, the poor tiling and walls, the mismatch of the cabinets and stove, the lack of appliance space, the lack of windows…