Thanks for all your replies - it's interesting reading!
One thing coming through is - at least to me - is that the FC is useful storage tool. And, of course, it is that.
However, my "complaint", as it were, was really about the current jump times. As
@Stealthie says above, I can't use mine as intended, and, given so many are doing colonisation (and why not? It's new content after all) this may not change for a while, if ever.
I understand there are server-side constraints (which I have only a tenuous grasp of) that prevent a jump taking less than 15 minutes or allow a carrier to jump a little like a ship does i.e. usually really quickly. However, does a stationary carrier have any impact on the whole carrier status galaxy wide?
I.e. only those that request a jump need the servers to process that call?
I suspect this is the case but, if just having a carrier in-game impacts performance then I have an idea.
I am slowly coming around to the idea that I should just keep the carrier, stop moaning and suck up the fact that a jump now takes 5 times longer than initially (almost) intended.