Page 53: of Marine News Magazine (November 2025)

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Feature

Johnson Stevens n the quiet waters of islands before there were bridges.” just how business was done.”

Yonges Island, South Those early days were about trust When the bridges came and the

Carolina, just south of and relationships. “They’d sell the produce trade shifted, the company

Charleston where the produce in Charleston and bring the adapted several times over. From pro-

O

Seaboard Railroad once money back to the farmers,” says Ste- duce transport to marine construc- ended, stands one of the Lowcoun- vens. “If you bought a car or a tractor, tion to LASH barge handling and try’s oldest continuously operating it came in by rail, and the salesman now towing, salvage, and ship repair, maritime companies. For more than would live with you for a few weeks to Stevens Towing has evolved through a century, Stevens Towing Compa- teach you how to maintain it. That’s at least four major transformations. ny has served as a connective thread across generations of shipbuilders, tug operators, and tradespeople who em- body the resilience and reinvention of the American maritime spirit.

Today, the company is led by John- son “G4” Stevens, the fourth genera- tion to take the helm. Stevens was still in his late twenties when he received a call that would change his life. “My father was sick,” he recalls. “I was in

Panama at the time, and the call came in saying, ‘You need to be at work in January.’ My parents needed help making some serious decisions about whether to keep the company going.”

That decision guided by faith, fam-

T The 820-metric- ily, and determination would mark ton Marine the start of a new chapter in one of

T T T T T Travelift is centra al l l l

South Carolina’s most enduring mari- t to the shipyard’s time success stories.

p p p bi capa capabili liti ties es.

Starting in Produce Transport

The Stevens story began in the early 1900s, when Johnson’s great-grandfa- ther and great-uncle saw a niche op- portunity along the South Carolina coast. The brothers began transport- ing produce between the Sea Islands and the markets of Charleston. “Back then, Yonges Island was the hub,” Ste- vens explains. “The Seaboard Railroad ended right here. There was a vegeta- ble dock below the of? ce, a post of? ce downstairs, and farmers upstairs. We became the connection between the www.marinelink.com MN 53|