MV Bali Sea

MV Bali Sea was a roll-on/roll-off rail ferry, previously a heavy-lift ship. It started its life recovering ships and moving oil platforms, undergoing several name changes in the process. It became a rail ferry in 2000, shipping trains across the Gulf of Mexico. In 2021, when new ferries^[2] were introduced, Bali Sea was taken out of service and sent to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard in Gujarat, India for scrapping.

Bali Sea with loading up with ferrosur trains at Coatzacoalcos
History
Name	Bali Sea
Operator	Frigg Shipping (1982–1985) Wijsmuller Transport/Dockwise (1985–1995) Gulf South Shipping/CG Railway (1995–2021)
Builder	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Launched	25 December 1981
Completed	1982
In service	1982
Out of service	2021
Renamed	From Dan Lifter in 1985, from Super Servant 5 in 1995
Identification	Call sign: D6A2872 IMO number: 8106068
Fate	Scrapped 4 July 2021
General characteristics
Tonnage	24,201 GT 15,547 NT 76,061 DWT
Length	175.4 m (575 ft 6 in)
Beam	35.8 m (117 ft 5 in)
Draught	4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
Speed	20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Notes	[1]

History

Dan Lifter carrying the crippled RFA Sir Tristram in 1982

The ship, a semi-submersible 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 after the Falklands War. In 1985, it was acquired by Wijsmuller Transport with the name Super Servant 5 to move oil platforms. It stayed with Wijsmuller for ten years, before being transferred to Gulf South Shipping, who passed the recently renamed Bali Sea to CG Railway. It operated as a rail ferry between Coatzacoalcos in Mexico and Mobile, Alabama, on a 900-mile (1,400 km) route, carrying a maximum of 115 rail cars.^[3] In 2019, Bali Sea was showing its age. As a result, new ferries were ordered from China, both of which arrived in 2021.^[2] With the arrival of the first, MV Cherokee, Bali Sea was renamed Bala, sailed to Nhava Sheva, and decommissioned.^[4]