Stevens Towing News

Shipyards across the U.S. are investing in new equipment to increase lift capacity, opening up the door for more projects and improved efficiency.Southern California-based Marine Group Boat Works, which performs a mix of yacht, commercial and government vessel repair work, in 2022 repowered its 665-ton Marine Travelift mobile boat hoist—the largest on the West Coast—with a Tier 4 John Deere engine. And earlier this year it was awarded a MARAD Small Shipyard Grant worth more than…

The recent delivery of a Marine Travelift 820CII (820 metric ton/1,804,000 lbs. capacity) Mobile Boat Hoist to the Stevens Towing Company, Inc. shipyard located on Yonges Island in South Carolina will transform marine services by alleviating overwhelmed dry dock schedules in the region.Founded in the late 1800s as Stevens Brothers with a single boat, Joseph Stanyarne Stevens and William Yates Stevens transported produce and supplies from Edisto Island to Charleston and many points in between.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $12.6 million in grants to nine marine highway projects across the Nation under the America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP). The funding will help address supply chain disruptions, enhance the movement of goods along our navigable waterways, and expand existing waterborne freight services in Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.“These investments through the America’s Marine Highway Program will help us move more goods…

March Coast Guard deadline represents milestone for AIS use in U.S. From increasing situational awareness and enhancing the safety and security of maritime transportation, to its use in accident investigation, search and rescue, Aids to Navigation and asset monitoring, the role of AIS (Automatic Identification System) as a flexible and developing technology continues to grow in significance. The month of March 2016 – has come and gone – and represents an important milestone which will increase the prevalence and general awareness of AIS.

Bos Smith, Vice President, Operations, with Stevens Towing Co., Inc., Yonges Island, S.C., announces the delivery of Ocean Ranger, a 200’ X 72’ X 14’ ABS-classed floating crane barge. Stevens Towing, operating Ocean Ranger under Charleston Heavy Lift, will offer crane services in the Charleston, S.C., to Savannah, Ga., area. The barge was designed by The Shearer Group, Inc., Seabrook, Texas, and built by Metal Trades, Inc., of Yonges Island, S.C. Additional engineering for the crane boom and back-leg foundations and associated equipment was provided by TEEARC Engineering of Henderson, Nev.

Stevens Towing of Charleston, South Carolina has sold their U.S flag, twin screw tug “Island Fox” (ex Pt. Brower, Arctic Knight, Arctic Fox) to private foreign buyers. Marcon International, Inc. adds that they acted as broker for the sellers, to whom Marcon sold the vessel in 2006 from the West Coast. The 85’ x 30’ x 11’ depth tug was built in 1981 at Dakota Creek Shipyard in Anacortes, Washington as the “Arctic Fox” for Bering Marine of Seattle. It was originally designed and built as a versatile boat for working both in the rough, cold coastal waters and the shallow rivers of Alaska.

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway awaits the chance to rescue the crowded eastern seaboard with a readymade alternative to the parking lot known simply as I-95. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) extends 1,200 miles from Norfolk, Va. to Key West, Fla.. That much is common knowledge. What you may not know is that the U.S. Congress authorized the creation of the AIWW in 1919 and the entire waterway was completed in 1940. Consisting of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are manmade canals, the canal is included on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark.

The Board of Directors of Stevens Towing Co., Inc., elected W. Johnson Stevens, III, to serve as the new president of the company, succeeding his father, William J. “Bill” Stevens, Jr. Bill will serve as chairman of the board and as chief executive officer. The new posts reflect a planned leadership transition for the younger Stevens, son of the former president, to become the fourth generation of the Stevens family to head Stevens Towing. Johnson joined the company in 2007 and has served in a broad range of operations and management positions there over the years.

The Department of Transportation has announced 70 grants totaling $98m in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds that will be used to improve small shipyards throughout the United States. The funds, awarded through the Maritime Administration’s Assistance to Small Shipyards program, will help create and preserve jobs, provide valuable employment training and make much needed improvements to shipyards across the country. The Small Shipyards Grant program provides up to 75 percent in ARRA funds for a project and requires the remainder be matched by the shipyard. A detailed list of the grantees is as follows. •    Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc.,  Philadelphia, PA: $2,312,614, for the first year of training program.

Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, Wis., is being awarded $6,243,345 under previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00025-03-C-0002) for the acquisition of Improved Navy Lighterage System (INLS) watercraft for transportation services. All INLS craft are delivered FOB Origin, therefore, this contract supplemental agreement is for transportation costs to deliver 52 craft from the originating shipyards located in Marinette, Wis., and Yonges Island, S.C. to Government destinations in Florida and Virginia. The shipping company selected to transport all watercraft is Stevens Towing Company Inc., Yonges Island, S.C. (92 percent of the value of this transportation agreement goes to Stevens Towing). Contract funds in the amount of $1,350,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Volvo Penta is enjoying continued success with sales of engines for vessels operating in canal and river traffic in the US. When the barge transportation company, Stevens Towing in South Carolina, recently installed its first four-stroke diesel engines in one of its tugboats, its choice of engine was Volvo Penta’s TAMD165C. The results to date are impressive – the company calculates that it gains the equivalent of one engine per year through lower fuel and maintenance costs! There is a large market for new engines for tugboats working on canals and rivers in the US.

Volvo Penta is enjoying continued success with sales of engines for vessels operating in canal and river traffic in the U.S. When the barge transportation company, Stevens Towing in South Carolina, recently installed its first four-stroke diesel engines in one of its tugboats, its choice of engine was Volvo Penta's TAMD165C. The results to date are impressive - the company calculates that it gains the equivalent of one engine per year through lower fuel and maintenance costs. There is a large market for new engines for tugboats working on canals and rivers in the U.S. Volvo Penta, which gained its first foothold in this market only a few years ago, is reporting significant performance improvements for its customers.

"Tug boat sinks, spills diesel fuel" declared the headline in the Local section of the newspaper. And, strictly speaking, the headline was correct. In 1906, The Captain Morgan had been built as a tug. But as the fourth paragraph acknowledged, "The owner was having the boat ... refurbished into a house boat." So would it be more correct, technically speaking, to say "House boat sinks?" It may be a subtle distinction, but subtleties are why people buy newspapers. Houseboaters and pleasure boaters in general, some might imagine, leave no waterborne pollutants in Charleston harbor, while commercial vessels and oil spills were practically synonymous by November 9. And potentially scandalous.