§50305 Appointment of Trustee or Receiver and Operation of Vessels

Summary

A court can name the Secretary of Transportation to act as the trustee or receiver for a U.S.-flag ship that sails between the United States and another country and has a U.S. Government mortgage. The court must find that doing so helps the estate and interested parties and furthers the goals of the law, and the Secretary must agree. If someone else is named, that appointment only takes effect when the Secretary approves it, and the Secretary can ask for a hearing. If the court will not let the trustee or receiver run the ship in foreign trade without government money, the court may let the Secretary run the ship (directly or by hiring an operator) if the Secretary says keeping the ship running is essential to U.S. foreign trade and furthers the law’s goals. The Secretary must follow court terms to protect interested parties and must pay all operating losses. The Secretary cannot later claim those losses from the company or its assets, but may pay reasonable depreciation and other amounts the court finds fair. A ship the Secretary runs under these rules is treated as being operated by the United States under chapter 309.