Green Energy Ship Turns Heads Heading Out to Sea

Most of the large container ships and chemical tankers seen entering or leaving Charleston Harbor don’t wow you with their looks other than their sheer size. 

But on April 30 while at the beach on Sullivan’s Island I witnessed an exception: this stunning vessel steaming toward the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I love this photo for capturing the ship’s bold beauty and because we see St. Philip’s Church in the background, a Holy City landmark (one of 14 downtown churches in my book “Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston").

See what I mean about turning heads? This gentleman stopped and stared, as did I. 

Stena Prosperous it says on the bow and on the port side in even larger print is Stena Proman. The former is the ship’s name and the latter the company that owns it.  

More lettering on the side spells IMOIIMeMAX. Let us try to determine what all this means! But first check out this photo of the tanker from Ships Monthly. 

Stena Prosperous is an oil and chemical products tanker built in 2022 at Guangzhou Shipyard in China.  It sails under the flag of Limassol, Cypress.

Stena Proman is a joint venture between Stena Bulk, a leading tanker operator, and Proman, a leader in natural gas-derived products and services. The two companies joined forces to build and operate a fleet of methanol-fueled tankers. 

The IMOIIMeMAX part reflects the type of chemical cargo these ships are designed to safely carry. 

Last May in Singapore the Stena Prosperous was christened. Read about that festive event here. 

The tanker is 186 meters long and 32 meters wide. That’s 610 feet long and 104 feet wide. That would be more than two football fields long. 

On this day when I viewed the menthol green vessel (is the color tied to its methonal fuel?) it was heading for the island nation of Trinidad & Tobago, perhaps to pick up oil. In 2023, the United States was the top customer for the crude petroleum drilled in Trinidad & Tobago. 

A ship tracking website shows Stena Properous has been to Charleston ports several times in recent months. 

The big S on the bow reminds me of Superman's S. This is a super-ship for sure!

For this visit to Sullivan’s Island I parked in a lot near Fort Moultrie, site on June 28, 1776 of an early victory by Americans in the Revolutionary War. It was called Fort Sullivan back then. 

This part of the island is full of history. As this sign explains near here on Feb. 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine Hunley was launched. That evening it stuck an explosive into the Union ship Housatonic. This was the first use of a submarine to sink a ship in battle. 

There is also a neat display of cannons from the Civil War. The park also has black bunkers that can be explored. These coastal defense structures date to the 1880s and were manned throughout the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. 

Battery Jasper is the main fortification here. 

From the Fort Moultrie parking lot the beach is a short walk across an open field. 

Right away I spotted this MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) container ship steaming into the harbor. MSC has 900 shipping vessels around the world. 

These photos put into context the huge size of these ocean-faring vessels that can carry more than 10,000 20-foot containers. 

The stern identifies this as the MSC Angela, registered in Panama. Angela is 

869 feet long. It is significantly longer than the Stena Prosperous shown earlier in this post.  Angela was built by Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co. in China in 2008. 

Angela is nearly three football fields long. Built in 2008, the ship left for Antwerp, Belgium after unloading at one of Charleston’s ports. 

This was the beach when I arrived. I had a big section to myself for a time. What a great way to celebrate the end of another school year!