How much do container haulers make? Would like real numbers.

nope, spend it on our families, money only goes into functional parts and engine

 

In texas we avg 80mph

 

Bias ply 10.00 x 20 tube tires or 11 22.5 tubeless tires, on average the carcasses are 10 yrs old, I've seen a few lately that are 20 yrs old. In many parts of the middle of the country a bias 22.5 is impossible to get, I had one blow out a few months back and the chassis owner ended up spending $1,100 to put two new 11R22.5 trailer tires.

One thing we can haulers deal with are crappy tires. If you encounter me on the interstate, if I'm pulling a loaded container on a pool chassis, unless it's a super light load or the temps are below 40 deg., I rarely go over 67 mph (my truck is gov. at 81 mph), even with a light load on a cool road, I'll still rarely exceed 70 mph, if I'm empty and coming home, I'll be doing 80 mph. If I'm empty heading to load, depending on where I'm going and what I'm loading, I probably won't go over 70 mph, just because I want to make it home. We've been running a bunch of tire loads from Denver to SLC the last couple week, even though they are light loads, I'm maybe 50K gross, I'm still doing 70 mph max loaded, but the last two loads, coming back empty across I-80, I'm searching for speed records, simply cause I want to get home.

There are places where finding someone to work on a split rim is impossible, and finding a 10.00 x 20 tire and tube can be almost impossible, not to long ago, one of my coworkers sat for 4 hours while the repair service searched for someone, then it was another 6 hours before they could get to him. We ended up calling the repair shop, telling them the driver was limping to a hotel (he was in a day cab) 20 miles away so he could take his 10 while waiting.

It was so bad this last summer, we made the decision that any loads over 38K, going more than 100 miles, while be hauled using one of our 3-axle chassis, we explain to the brokers that due to tire issues, it's too dangerous for drivers to haul that heavy of a load on a standard chassis. My boss has modified our rates for doing this, charging flat fees instead of normal rates, but the reality is it gives us drivers a peace of mind, one that we'll make it, and two that if we have a tire issue, the tires are a common size radial and easily replaced.

Earlier this summer, I had a 44K load that came in on a 40' container, the chassis it was loaded on, 7 of 8 tires were low on air, when we started to air them up, we noticed the tube liners were rotted and cracking and two of the tires had tread separation, not enough the pool would replace them, but enough that they would fail. The load was going from Denver to Cavalier, N.D., simply put, there was no way that chassis would survive the trip, we ended up trans loading it to our regular van trailer. My boss took pics of the junk tires and liners and emailed them to the guy that runs the chassis, he simply shrugged his shoulders.

 

If I'm hauling a can on our privately owned chassis, I will to, but not on a rail or port owned chassis

 

What’s the advantage of using a pool chassis? Is the rail preloading pool chassis so yo can drop and hook? It seems like if you had company owned chassis you’d want to use this instead.

just curious because I don’t know how that side of the business is, the only containers I haul would be “a bit” over height on a regular chassis.

 

He can use the Texas intrastate HOS, which does not have a 14 hour window.

 

Containers are automatically loaded to pool chassis from the train with a rental of $30 to $50/day, to use a private chassis, we pay a flip fee of $150 and then charge a chassis rental of $150/day. Unless they have to, most places balk at the higher fees we charge for a private chassis, in some cases they have no choice but to pay it.

 

NY/NJ port stopped chassis rentals through the terminals a long time ago and we have amassed a long term fleet of over 600 new chassis [long term lease] with radials and LED lighting and some with on-board tire air.

We have learned to still use a pool chassis when forced to go to the railheads here.

 

Why is it so common that when an O/O claims to net $3k a week, many don't believe it? Seems like a low number to me as I net $25-2600 on a 5 day work week home daily as a Company driver.

 

So, your grossing approximately $3,700/wk as a company driver and home daily? Please elaborate.