To be honest, I'm not sure how 'Maltese ships that aren't Maltese' makes sense, but to each their own I suppose.
Crayter, from my understanding, has had a history of stockpiling Cardamine for use by their own people, as to my knowledge part of the population of Borneo itself is already of Maltese origin. It's not solely for the *MR|. That much I had to ensure was clear during the RP years ago. Nothing's given away. That'd just be stupid.
The supply of the faction goes primarily through the CR as Crayter can act as a middleman for the *MR| to obtain supplies that it in turn pays the CR for. Whatever the CR doesn't use for those who need it that they govern is sold off to the *MR| as surplus. Bear in mind, the CR population is roughly 20 times that of the *MR| (give or take, I'm still figuring out the actual numbers for both but have a rough estimate as well as clarification from the devs), which allows for the runoff from the CR to handily supply the micro-state *MR|.