Endorsments

You could hual tankers with motor oils and the like without a Hazmat since they are not placarded. Water tankers too!

 

Get it man! I have a tanker endorsement for my CLP right now. Granted I can only haul empty, washed out tanks with it. The test was a breeze and its easily the shortest section of any CDL Manual.

 

Many van companies now require tanker due to bulk liquid totes now require tanker.

 

Basically you need tanker if you are carrying bulk totes with a total of 1,000 gallons of liquid or more, whether or not it is hazmat. To get there, you need 4 totes. They typically hold between 250 - 330 gallons apiece, so you wouldn't need a tanker endorsement for a small shipment of 3 or fewer. If you ever get these, make sure to strap them in because they will slide around no matter how careful you think you are.

 

I've used tanker several times.. never for hazmat. I've hauled water and AC oil when I worked in road construction, and I had a roommate who worked for a guy who bred horses, did horse training, farmed, and had dairy cows, and he had me fill in for his regular driver a couple times to run a dairy tank. I've done maybe two hazmat loads between 2002 and 2010 (when I dropped hazmat)... one of those was a Class 1 load, which I'm not gonna lie.. it made me a bit uneasy.

 

Speaking of that, I just recently saw a tanker with those dreaded orange placards on. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. I had no idea there was such a thing as a bulk liquid load like that. (I don't even want to say the class name for fear of triggering an investigation, ya know what I mean?) I'm curious what the substance was, but I'm afraid to ask...

 

Hazmat is a pain but most otr companies give u a penny xtra a mile if u got it. I got mine and now I do Fedex loads...xtra hot and all night driving

 

Nope. I didn't get my HAZMAT until almost my 2nd year driving. Got Tanker when I got my permit. Plenty of tanker jobs that don't require it. Water, Most Bulk Tankers, Fertilizers, Waste Water, Non-Potable construction use water, other nasty yet non hazardous crap etc. I do wish I started with HAZMAT too but that would have been a lot to work on at once, for me at least.

 

Does include the poop tankers I see going to farms in Midwest. They spray that slurry.

 

No you can have it. I do.

Concrete Mixers, Bulk Cement Tankers, Milk tanking, water hauling etc. (Now when they fill your 12 yard concrete mixer with water until it sloshes to clear a parking lot... that's FUN.... we used to make bets on splash or no splash to and from the jobsite)

I held a hazmat for decades, kept current too. Turned it in after abuse from one particularly noxious dispatcher who #####ed about me using the Key Bridge bypass for hazmat (About 35 more minutes around Baltimore instead of straight through the tunnel...) that shut him up permanently. It's #### near 25 years and I still get angry typing about it. **Grump....