MV ''Bali Sea'' was a

roll-on/roll-off 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, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

rail ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. 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 t ...

, previously a

heavy-lift ship A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be transported 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 fl ...

. It started its life recovering ships and moving

oil platform An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...

s, 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 () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

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

Alang Ship Breaking Yard The Alang Ship Breaking Yard is the world's largest ship breaking yard, responsible for dismantling more than a third of retired freight and cargo ships salvaged from around the world. It is located on the Gulf of Khambhat by the town of Alang, ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India for

scrapping Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have Waste valorization, mone ...

History

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 *S ...

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 after the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

. In 1985, it was acquired by Wijsmuller Transport with the name ''Super Servant 5'' to move

s. It stayed with Wijsmuller for ten years, before being transferred 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 railro ...

. It operated as a rail ferry between

Coatzacoalcos Coatzacoalcos (; formerly known as Puerto México; ; Zapotec: ; Popoluca: ''Puertu'') 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 Ca ...

in Mexico and

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...

, on a route, carrying a maximum of 115 rail cars. In 2019, ''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'', ''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