Got to see the fight over Trepin last cycle. Orgnaized Federal players gathering hundreds of thousands of merits while undermining in Open. Only one sighting of a Torval hauler in Open: that player immediately combat logged when interdicted. The Open underminers would scatter to separate systems when enemy PvPers arrived, thus taking a performance hit. Torval haulers didn't need to worry about that, and could fly shieldless if they wanted. There was one report of a Federal player in open who combat logged, but we never heard the commander's name, so can't investigate. (Not every Federal-aligned player is part of the organized Federal groups/discord channels.)
Edit: Applied correction suggested by Bulbulunufus. Apologies & thanks!