Switching to tankers

Gasoline tankers are much different. In fact we never had any pumps on our trucks. We haul the same product everyday and the only propective gear is just about the same you'd wear anywhere. Good safety steeltoed boots, gloves provided by your employer, and some places require hard hats and safety glasses. We always had someone at the loading facility and all of us were trained to handle spills. But I don't think anywhere in the company that you would be loading without someone watching either by CCTV or at the site itself.

We know the weight of the product because we also know the temp of the product. Where this gets a little tricky is when Ethanol is injected and the temp kind of gets funny. But we still know what we can load and not load to stay within our permitted weight. The hardest is staying at around 12,000 on the steer. But we do it close enough that we have never had a problem at the terminal I worked at.

 

Just wondering, as i've thought about tanking too....Where do you go for a tank wash?

 

Tanks I am pulling have no baffles. The product is not very heavy and most loads are to the top. You still get some surge but it is not bad.

I guess it is going to depend on what you are hauling. In the morning I hook to my load that is sitting there waiting for me. If I have more than 1 load the next trailer is sitting there loaded when get back, drop empty hook the loaded trailer and leave.

Don't have to do any wash out. That is someone elses job. Oh and no getting into a cold truck as they are parked inside at night. Been real nice on these cold winter days.

 

So you drive local and return to the same place every day?

I just really want to know where an OTR guy goes, like if they just hauled a load of whatever and need to pickup a load of whatever else and it needs to be washed out and no dropyards within 300 miles....

 

Ok. i see.

Cause ive never seen a blue beacon washing a tank out, haha.

I went to a big chemical plant a while back. Momentive Performance Compounds in Friendly, WV. The whole leaving my keys in the ignition thing was weird. But i was comfortable with it because the place was secure and no one was walking around. i heard rickg talking about it here before but that was the first time i did it, LOL.

but i used the bathroom in the guard shack, and they had a big sign "DO NOT DRINK THE WATER"... i asked the guard about that hes like "A while back..." and sounded like he was going to say something specific, then changed his tone like he decided he couldnt tell me, "Well theres chemicals in the water."


the weirdest part was i had to watch a safety video explaining all their safety procedures, but i was given a certificate, that i can show next time i go in there and i only have to watch that video once every two years. Except I drive a dry van OTR, and thats in the boonies in WV, so not likely. I usually just run Ontario-Pennsylvania-Michigan-Ohio-Indiana-Illinois-Wisconsin...

 

I've wanted to get in to bulk or dry tankers, would they even be considered tankers? I dont know, I know its not the same as you liquid guys but I like the idea. Have wanted to work for Bulkmatic since I was a kid, the trailers looked so cool

Now A&R bought up a company near my house and thats an option too. Any one know if those are any different? I know the materials wont move around nearly as much as a liquid, but I guess if the material is small enough, it might as well be a liquid. Talc being a good example.

thanks

 

One bad thing about gas hauling (and it's what finally made me quit) is when you start delivering to gas stations.

When you're hauling fuels you quickly learn how volatile they are. You learn about how easy it is to ignite them. You learn how to control your own safety..... most of which makes youn think "Duh, that's simple. Who would do that dumb stuff."

But then you take your first load to a gas station, which is usually open and full of customers. You start unloading and then you look around and start seeing people doing all those things you were taught not to do. Then it hits you; "Holy ----, I'm sitting here with a 10,000 gallon bomb and these idiots have no friggin' clue." Y'see, people have been around fuels for so long they treat it like it's water; the old "familiarity breeds contempt" thing. So your safety (and everybody else's) is tied to the dumbest SOB there.

Ever see a service station blow up? Wait until some dillweed walks up to you with a lit cigarette in their hand. Or a couple of punk teenagers decide it will be fun to flick a butt at your feet. Or some minority type parks her pimpmobile right beside you with the engine running "cause no ####### truck driver is gonna tell me where I can park".

My final delivery was marked by having a ####### drive straight over top of my downspout.... and snapping it off. Told the cops and fire dept that "He didn't realize what the truck was doing there."

 

remember with dry bulk tanker there top heavy, keep that in mind.

 

i deliver fuel for about 4 years and the reason i quit was the #### migraine headache, i switch over to jet fuel and that's was great until they lost the contract. so i started pulling LPG and that's a joke. in one of my stop i had the receiver come out to sign the paper work with a stupid cigarette in his hand.