First tanker job

When i worked for PIE they sent two trucks to the Port of Seattle to pump contaminated fuel off of a big tug boat. The fuel was pumped from the tug to our tankers using the tug's fuel transfer pumps. We'd haul it to the refinery for cleaning.
The regular engine room crew was placed on leave and the guy handling the fuel transfer had never done one before. The tug had nine fuel tanks, most of which had manual valves and some of which were rarely used.. There was a piping diagram posted in the engine room but it was over twenty years old and had been through five or six major plumbing changes without being updated. It was one of those deals where the chief engineer had ridden the tug new out of the ship yard, been on her ever since, and was the only person who really understood the maze of piping, plumbing, valves, switches, and pumps that made up the fuel system.
He was on vacation with the rest of the crew.
You guessed it. The guy handling the fuel transfer never even thought about venting and sucked in six out of nine tanks, which also tore loaded fuel lines and valves open and did other major structural . damage. The resultant fuel spill was confined to the bilges on the tug and caused another four days of work pumping it out. No fuel leaked into the harbor
I don't remember the total cost that we charged but I know it was well into six figures.
How does this relate to tank trucks? Well, it was nice to be part of the solution for a change instead of being part of the problem

 

I used to go by Brenner Tank in Fond du Lac, Wis regularly, and there were always a few sucked in waiting to be rebuilt. With inexperienced drivers, those guys should have a job for life.