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The 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, the Bali Sea was taken out of service and sent to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard in Gujarat, India for decommissioning and eventual scrapping.
 Bali Sea with loading up with Ferrosur trains in Coatzacoalcos | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bali Sea |
| Owner | None |
| Operator | Frigg Shipping (1982-85), Wijsmuller Transport/Dockwise (1985-95), 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 |
|
| Fate | Scrapped 4 July 2021 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | |
| 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] |
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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 went to Wijsmuller Transport with the name Super Servant 5 to move oil platforms. 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. 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, the 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, the Bali Sea was renamed Bala, sailed to Nhava Sheva, and decommissioned.[4]
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