Yup if you stack up alot of what I call "tweeners" where you refit and not dock and get new orders the load times can be pretty long indeed.
My record long load time (from load save not including game initilization) is 15 minutes
Ive learned to live with it. Id rather run a bunch of tweeners than get retiered early.
Eventually though you got to take the boys back to home port or they get a bit peeved.