A couple simple tanker questions...

no invasion, I just ask question to help you think about options you may not have thought of.

Want to stay in the south, don't rule out regional carriers.

My tanker experience has been in the crude hauling arena... love it. spent 5 years over the road, and really got tired of the life on the road...

Driver 105,000#s on gravel roads is fun
Until the rain and mud, then it is one big mess.

One thing to remember about tankers, they are a specialized vehicle, built to haul a class of products. Food grade is smooth boor, chemical is baffled and /or compartmentalized. Heavy chemical is banana shaped...

Then you have the gas tankers, pressurized vessels.

Dry bulk, more of a hopper configuration.

 

Been chemical for almost 4 years, never seen a baffled tanker....ever. 95% has been smooth bore with the other being compartment. I have no idea where this baffled rumor comes from.
For most companies your tank will be the one available, heavy or not, banana shaped or not.

 

Same here. We have compartmented tanks, but no baffles. Probably 80% smoothbore

 

Schneider only runs smooth bore, no baffled trailers at all. I'm sure they exist...but must be a very small % of the trailers on the road.

For general otr bulk chemical the typical payload is 45,000lbs. So you would want your tare to be in the 33-34k range max. That puts tractor around 22k. You would also need to take into consideration wheelbase and cab height. Most carriers want shorter wheelbase and mid roof cabs. Consider Schneider, they are a good training company for you to get a feel for general otr bulk chemical hauling.

 

I haul chemicals, and all of our tanks are smooth bore...every company has a different setup.

 

I used to haul oilfield mud/saltwater/freshwater with a baffled tanker. I'm pretty sure that all the water tankers used in the oilfield are baffled. At least all the trailers that the company I worked for were. This was back in the 90's.

 

Don't forget river barges. Refineries load barges and send them up river to an inland river port. Offload the barges into storage tanks (tank farms). The truck load at the racks positioned at the river port. Many also have train tracks, so the river port can implement trucks, trains, and barges.

 

I use to work at BASF chemical on the Mississippi in Geismar, La and I can assure you every tanker that comes in to be loaded with sulfuric acid is baffled. I have had to load some.

 

Maybe, but that is one chemical and specialized at that. If you added up every chemical tank in the u.s I bet 10% of them are baffled. Surge isn't a big enough of a deal to worry with baffles for the most part. Schneider had several Acid trailers that weren't baffled. If Schneider has any baffled tank's I've never seen them.

 

Comparing Schneider isn't fair. Those cheap skates would use plastic kiddie swimming pools if they could get away with it.