If a transistor only gives you a maximum current flow, what's the maximum voltage?
The maximum collector-emitter current is an optimistic upper bound; it's the most you can shove through the transistor, ever.

The datasheet also has a maximum collector-emitter voltage, and a (generally wildly optimistic) maximum power dissipation.

Because that power dissipation is usually wildly optimistic, and is often at least somewhat optimistic, it's up to you to take the specified parts of the thermal behavior (the maximum junction temperature, which is also somewhat optimistic, and the junction-to-case thermal resistance), combine that with whatever method you're using to get heat out of the transistor and your intended ambient temperature that you want the device to run, and then you need to figure out the power handling capabilities of whatever circuit you're building using that transistor.