Fuel hauling info please...

Hauling Fuel is not a hard job at all, like all Trucking jobs there are the in's and outs. Once you get Carded in at all the terminals you are going to pull from, and understand how to snap on and load your compartments on your tanker you just need to learn where your lids are at your stations. Always check with your station for a current tank reading before you drop! And make sure you drop the right fuel in the right hole. Understand that fuel tankers have problems too, skully system, probes,etc but depending on the size of the company you may noy have to deal with issues like this, if your lucky. I have trained a few to haul fuel but if there was one thing that I would want to impress upon you it would be, don't become complacent. It will get you killed. not many second chances with 8200 gallons of gas.

 

I've retired from a major oil comapny (ARCO) and it was the best trucking job I've ever had or seen any other driver have. You're starting out with a common carrier and I would assume that you would be pulling for all different companies. Either way it's just like geandle 1 has said. Always and I mean ALWAYS remember what's behind you in that tank. The companies over the years have developed the trucks to be as safe as they can be and you as a driver must keep that standard as high as you can. Always keep your tanks either vapor rich or product full. Never let an air mixture enter into your tank. That means always use your vapor recovery and never open the domes.

If you have scully problems get it fixed. Even thou I worked for ARCO we still loaded at a common carrier terminal and breaking the rules got you locked out and sent home.

The job is more than just driving a truck because of what you haul and the responsibilities that go with it. You'll do fine. We've had drivers retire with over 30 years safe driving at a few of our terminals and that's all city driving in places like LA, Portland, and Seattle. Just take it slow and ask questions when you don't know. We always stuck the tanks ourselves and used the correct tank chart before we dropped. But always check and recheck yourself before you drop any product. I had just 3 months with the company when I dropped 3500 gallons of leaded regular in the unleaded premium tank. It happens and the company figures a driver will contam every 5 years or so. But all I did was glace at the tag because I was sure the tank was right since I'd been so many times. So you'll need to get your own routine down and follow it every time.

Today the rules for the environment are tougher and just remember you never know who's watching. IOW's don't cut corners. After awhile you'll get to where it won't take long to load and unload because you'll know it inside out but just like geandle1 said DON'T become complacent. You won't be thrown out and told to do the job to start with, you'll have some specialized training. You should be trained in hazmat more than any other type of hauling. We had firefighting, personal protection, and product information training before we even got to the truck. You'll be trained in the rack procedures and most likely you'll have to demonstrate that you know them.

After you've been there for awhile you might find out that there's better companies to pull for. I've always seen that the major oil companies are the best with safety, pay, and benefits. You can always tell a company truck by the name on the door. If it says Chevron, Exxon, Shell, or any other major name on the door then you know it's the company. But you might see Exxon or other names on the tank and a different name on the door. Those are dedicated carriers and they don't have the same benefits. If you do decide to go for a major then you've got to know now that you'll need a spotless record or a record that's better than all the other drivers that apply. We had a waiting time of about 5 years before a driver would get hired. We just didn't have drivers quit, they went on to retire and you had to wait.

There usually three types of companies hauling gasoline. 1, The major oil company that will only haul their own product. And they mostly stay within the city. 2. A trucking company that is leased to haul for a major oil company, they are called dedicated carriers. 3. The common carrier that will haul any product. They might pull one load for Chevron then jump over and pull for Shell or they might pull all day for Chevron. It just depends on your area. We had no dedicated carriers where I was but we used common carriers when our drivers couldn't pull all the loads.

The biggest drawback I saw with this type of work was the business is a 24 hour 7 day a week operation. That means you might start working nights and weekends. Again it all depends on your area. We worked 4-10 hour shifts a week and we were paid by the hour. We got time and 1/2 for anything over 10 hours and 40 hours a week. We always could work an extra day of overtime and we all made a killing in O/T. So we'd end up working 60 hours a week and still be home every night and have two days off.

I'll be more than happy to answer any question you have if I can. Don'tget shaky about the job but keep your head screwed on tight. In all the millions of miles my company has driven that I know of since the 60's, we've only lost 2 drivers. That's an execllent record for being the largest gasoline retailer on the west coast. Good luck and stay in touch.

 

Hey guys, great posts. Just one quick question, what is a 'scully system'?

And ripcord, good luck. At least you're not pulling one of these:

 

And ripcord, good luck. At least you're not pulling one of these:[/QUOTE]

I did. The truck and trailer I drove was 85' long and grossed over 105,000lbs. We held 12,450 gallons and were called super tankers.

 

I've been hauling fuel for over a year now. IMHO, it's a pretty good gig. I work nights in the D/FW area....and I make what I think is good money.

And now I'm spoiled on hauling tankers. So even if this job was to end (let's hope not), I'll still be hauling a tanker weather it's OTR or local.

Good luck.

 

Well GH, you have my respect and admiration. Let's face it, some days it can be hairy enough riding around with a medium weight load in a box, never mind what you guys are hauling. Oh, and thanks for the scully explanation. I figured it must be a ground system, to keep the chance of a static charge igniting vapor from happening.

Pulling one of those 'super tankers' seems intimidating, but I'm sure once you got used to them, your comfort level went up. I imagine the hardest thing is keeping yourself from getting complacent about what you're hauling (as you said in your post).

BTW, the set of doubles is a waste oil hauler, seems most MI fuel sleds are 6-7 axles on the trailer; I have seen milk sleds with eight axles, now that sounds like a REAL fun ride, especially on an icy road!

 

I'm glad to say that my company has really gone to the limits to keeps us trained and sharp. One item that changed everything for us was the ABS system. We hardly ever change trailers so our brake system works like they should. I've tested in the yard where there was plenty of room and I took an empty truck and trailer on wet pavement up to about 40mph and stood on the brakes. The truck stoped straight as an arrow and in a short distance. So I got spoiled on the trucks and wouldn't want any other type.

The truck set up can be confusing to some because they see 2 tanks and say it's a set of doubles but it's not. The front tank is mounted on the power unit and that unit pulls a trailer. That makes it a truck and trailer. When backing it's all different because a truck and trailer piviots in only 2 places. The rear tank has a permanent drawbar attached so dropping the trailer is done at the back of the truck with the pintle hook. You'll see alot of truck and trailers out west and just about all of the gasoline trucks are this way. One reason is you can get a truck and trailer into smaller places than a semi. The trailer tracks very close to the truck on our trucks because the drawbar is long. They had to come up with something when the gasoline sales were going good and the stations were old. Years ago they used to deliever by a pup truck into very small tanks. But now those stations have been rebuilt and have larger tanks to hold alot more product.

I would haul 12,450 gallons each load and that load would go to one station. I'd do this 5 to 6 times a day and we still had to hire outside companies to keep up. We only had 4 trucks at my terminal but those trucks ran around the clock every day. Our sales were a million gallons every 2 days. We had some stations that took a load every day.