Say there’s a bankruptcy. You know what gets hard done by in a bankruptcy is trade debt. Much better to have a security interest in something so you have a chance of recovery.
Say you’re towing company, and you’re towing a barge out to a rig, and there is a decomissioning heavy lift vessel, and the heavy lift vessel puts pieces of the rig onto your receiver barges. Have you provided a necessary to that barge within the meaning of the 46 U.S.C. § 31301(4)? If you have then you can lien the thing, which is way better than an unsecured debt. And I mean it says right there in the statute that towage is a necessary.
It’s a pretty compelling argument. But no dice. “It is plain that the barges were not equipment for the Nor Goliath, did not help the Nor Goliath’s crane raise and lower the platform components, and so the Nor Goliath did not “use” the barges. It follows that the Towing Companies did not provide a service necessary to the Nor Goliath’s particular function.” Rough luck.
The case is Central Boat Rentals et al v. M/V NOR GOLIATH et al, c/a no. 21-60501.