The MV Bali Sea was a

ro-ro Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

, previously a

heavy lift ship A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normal ships. They are of two types: *''Semi-submersible'' ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be floated o ...

. It started its life recovering ships and moving

oil platforms An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

, undergoing several name changes in the process. It became a rail ferry in 2000, shipping trains across the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. In 2021, when new ferries were introduced, the Bali Sea was taken out of service and sent to

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Alan ...

, India, for decommissioning and eventual

scrapping Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

History

RFA_Sir_Tristram_&_MV_Dan_Lifter_late_1982

The ship, a

semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: *Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface *Se ...

heavy-lift ship at the time, was christened sometime in 1981 with the name ''Dan Lifter'' and was sent into service with Frigg Shipping Ltd. in 1982. A year later, it recovered

RFA Sir Tristram TV ''Sir Tristram'' (L3505) formerly (RFA ''Sir Tristam''), is a Round Table class logistics landing ship that was converted to Special Forces Training Vessel in 2008. She was launched in 1966, and accepted into British Army service in 1967. As ...

after the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. In 1985, it went to

Wijsmuller Transport Dockwise was a Netherlands-based holding company in the marine transport industry. It was acquired by Boskalis in 2013 and was merged into the Boskalis brand name in 2018. History Dockwise was formed in September 1993 by the merger of two compleme ...

with the name ''Super Servant 5'' to move

oil rigs {{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling * Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling * ...

. It stayed in Wijsmuller for 10 years, before being passed over to Gulf South Shipping, who passed the recently renamed ''Bali Sea'' to

CG Railway The CG Railway is a terminal railroad as reported by the Association of American Railroads. The CGR is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, and is owned and operated by a 50/50 joint venture between SEACOR Holdings and Genesee & Wyoming. The railroa ...

. It operated as a rail ferry between

Coatzacoalcos Coatzacoalcos () is a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, mostly on the western side of the Coatzacoalcos River estuary, on the Bay of Campeche, on the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. The city serves as the munic ...

in Mexico and

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, on a route, carrying a maximum of 115 rail cars. In 2019, the ''Bali Sea'' was showing its age. As a result, new ferries were ordered from China, both of which arrived in 2021. With the arrival of the first, MV Cherokee, The ''Bali Sea'' was renamed ''Bala'', sailed to Nhava Sheva, and decommissioned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bali Sea Semi-submersibles Heavy lift ships 1981 ships Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ro-ro ships Ferries