The Informationcard of the Barge means, that it's nearly a mobile Factory.
My Thoughts are that it can use as a little base.
You can dock on it and use it as a Equipment and Ore Storage and so on.
The Barge can mount multiple (?) Docking Bays. If a pilot docked at the barge, he can sell Equipment and Goods. The sold Items are in the Inventory of the Barge. It works like the /shop Command in a Playerbase. You can set Prices and set what items should be tradeable. The Barge is only dockable if it flys 0.
The Barge can't use or have Nanobots or Bats.
Shield:
Regenerating the Shield takes X H-Fuel or Deutrum or Helium-3 or MOX of the Inventory.
Hull:
To repair the Hull, it takes X Ship Hull Panels (or something Other) out of the Inventory.
Jump Drive:
The Barge still needs a Jumper to use the Jump Drive. But there have to be XXXX Space Ship Crew in the Inventory. The Space Ship Crew uses X Food Rations, Water, Oxygen. It will only use it when the Jump Drive is Charging.
But the best of all Options is:
Keep selling them. I only saw 2 or 3 Barges in my full Discovery-Life, and I play often here. Just keep them how they are now.