Tanker or Van?

Yes you can certainly do tanker long haul. Tanker should pay a little more then regular dry van. Reefer and flatbed do also. Everyone has their own "flavor" of trucking so if you are leaning toward tanker then go for it man! If it is a fuel tanker then you will definitely make a lot more. One thing about tanker is that if you decide you don't like it you can go anywhere else and still have the tanker experience under your belt. Would be great to have if you ever want to come off the road and get a local gig. This will broaden your opportunities. Good luck to you. Keep us posted.

 

Most tank pulling jobs pay better then dry van. Your main obstacle will be that much of what is shipped tanker is Hazmat and most companies wont put a new driver in a hazmat tanker. The insurance companies usually want three to five years to pull a full load of hazmat in a tin can.

Other then that, pulling tankers is great cause you often pull unloaded backhaul (which is bad if you are the owner, good if you are not)and you dont have to worry as much about wind pushing you around.

Bad news is that you will get slosh and sway from the liquid depending on what it is and how the tank is baffled.

I'd look into ag trucking jobs for starters. They often have tanker jobs pulling ammonia and they will often take on newbies. Bad news is they are usually seasonal jobs, unless you want that.

Good luck, driver!:smt023

 

Well if I was a new grad knowing what I know today, I would lean towards pulling a tanker. But then again it depends on what your gonna be pulling. Is it food grade, chemicals, tar, paint? With some tank jobs like most food grade, they are happy to see you at the unload site versus most other types of docks. If by chance it was a "good" tanker job, I would not worry about if it was Regional or OTR, in my book a year pulling a can is worth more than a year OTR. Do you have any info on what this tanker company hauls? Anyway good luck.

 

I've been doing tanker for about a month. If you do go with tanker you'll be doing all your loading and unloading. You'll get a load chart for all of your tanks though just make sure you understand them cuz each product weighs different and some times you have to figure out how to split the loads for multiple stops. Watch out for that surge too cuz sometimes it can nip you in the butt (found that out the hard way). You do make dang good money, I'm looking to make 65K on my first year driving. During the summer wearing the chem suits going to suck. It was 50 degrees the other day and I was sweating in my suit. anyways I love doing tankers, no loads ever the same and the scales usually leave me alone.

 

I would go for it....been interested in tanker work myself. Like others said, if you dont like it, you have the experience to move on. The best part is, they are willing to take you with no experience. Hard to pass that up.

 

Tanks pay better because the risk and responsibility is higher. You gotta learn to drive much more careful because your load is much more speed sensitive. To see how this works place a box of kleenex on your outstretched palm. Now move your hand back and forth and side to side. Pretty stable right? This represents a dry van or reefer load. Now do the same with a half full bottle laid on it's side. See how the moving liquid tries to throw the bottle off your hand? This is how a tanker handles in curves and such.

Plus chemicals, for example, are often temperature sensitive. My last load to Michigan was Luprinate with a temp range of 110-120 degrees F. Above or below that range can ruin the whole load so you gotta be careful.

But if you learn tanker successfully it will give you good driving habits that will stand you in good stead anywheres.

 

Colt, do you know what this company typically hauls? Not all tanker jobs are created equal and I'm sure if you let us know, someone on here could give you more specifics.