Want to expand!

Honestly, i think thats a tough gig to get with just A tanker. If youd had maybe 2 or 3 setting...then you might beable to fine a regular customer.

I used to haul liquid fertilzer on my own. It worked great, but was only seasonal. If it would have been year around, id a had it made. Good luck in your search.

 

You answered your own question.

If you approach the situation as a business, then the solution is to find another niche and move back into tankers when you get a few trucks on the road or accumulate the needed money to get the insurance and/or bonds.

 

I also deal in petroleum seasonally...starting back this week actually. Let me tell you from the heart; it's a breath of fresh, spring mountain air to go back to work under lease, at least for this guy. I've been sparring with brokers all season in the RGN/lowbed world since tanker work flattened out last March. It's just nothing but pure stench in my nostrils, dealing with the broker clan.

I wanted to do the same thing as you are stating with my own tank, but the insurance is 100% prohibitive with one or two trucks. I know of a guy locally that has 8 trucks and was trying to haul oil for one customer with his own tank. He ended up relinquishing the customer to the guy whom I lease to in the winter and leased that one truck and trailer on with HIM, because the insurance was just not even feasible to try and maintain anymore.

Hazmat coverage and compliance as you probably understand, is out of this world. Unless you have the financial ability to absorb the astronomical insurance premiums, backed by a solid customer base and a small fleet of units that can produce volume and stay that way...my advice would be to stay where you're at.

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence...but it usually ends up being over top of the septic tank.

 

Back in the late 1990s I used to work in Commercial Aviation. There was a medium size fuel spill that involved JET-A spilled on to soil. Here's who responded (partial list):
LAX World Airport Police and Fire Department
City of Los Angeles Police
US Navy
US Environmental Protection Agency
City of Los Angeles Street Maintenance Department
LAX Operations Department
LAX management team
US Coast Guard
And about another 50 managers and executives from the company that spilled the Jet-A
The bill for the clean up and remediation of the land (less than 1/4 acre) was close to $400,000 dollars. [400,000 1990 dollars would cost you over 750k in 2016 adjusted for inflation]
Imagine what the cost could be if an entire trailer was spilled (Millions)
That's why the insurance premiums are through the roof. This kind of work is best left to corporate partners who can afford hefty Lawyers and huge insurance costs.

 

That's a part of it. A reportable spill is 5 gallons. You'd be amazed how many 4.5 gallon spills there are, and how many there "aren't" as well....It all depends on where you're at, who saw what, and how good you can CYA. I had one a while back that was the result of a faulty check valve on the storage facility's end of the line that caused the worst spill I ever encountered in 35 years of doing it. End result was around 200 gallons of fuel oil by the time I got it stopped, a pallet of speedi-dry, a couple bundles of oil diapers and a couple 55 gallon drums to the tune of $2,000.00 for the entire mess cleanup.

Regardless of that side of it, hazmat is hazmat and lawyers are lawyers, so the blame will always go to the deepest pockets. You can be hauling pretzels and have an accident and get your pants sued off you just as well nowadays.

I don't recall ever hearing of petroleum industry brokered freight to be honest. I do however, know of a guy that brokers food grade tanker work but the rates are putrid, and the excessive waiting time is non-compensated time. It's lousy at best.

I'd strongly recommend just leasing to a solid chemical, petro chemical, hydro carbon gas or petroleum carrier if that's where your heart is. I get it...I'd love to do the same thing but I see the big picture and it's not a Picasso. The deal is "rigged", lol.