New Job with Schneider Dedicated (oil and gas industry south texas)

I went through the orientation process in Dallas, Tx last week June 26-30 and started my first day of traning here in Leming, Tx yesterday. If all goes according to plan I will solo on Monday July 11th.

Yesterday I reported at 8 a.m. to Schlumberger in Leming, Tx. I watched the Schlumberger trainer J.C. unclog a new pneumatic trailer they were trying to unload. Me and 4 other trainees waited for two trailers to be loaded with cement and finally headed out to the drilling sight around 5 p.m. A few hours later we reached the gate of the oil lease and it took at least another 40 minutes from there on dirt(caliche) roads to reach the drilling rig. It was two pneumatic semis and one chase car. I drove the lead truck with the J.C. This was my first time in one of their trucks and also my road test. They are brand new peterbuilts with a cummins engine. Loaded with cement it was hard to even get to 60 miles per hour.

It was 8:30 p.m. when we finally reached the drilling rig. They began unloading the other truck first in to one of three silos(they each hold two truckloads). Pretty soon they started having trouble with the line clogging but got her unloaded and began unloading my truck. The front compartment on my truck kept clogging the line or valve and they kept trying to unload it for an hour or more. Finally he hooked up to an owner operator's truck who was hauling the third load of cement and blew it out.

It was 12:30 a.m. by the time we were ready to leave and none of the drivers had enough hours left to drive all the way back to the terminal. We made it out of the oil lease and two of the trainees spent the night on the side of the road at a picnic area in the trucks. After eight or so hours they planned to drive back to the terminal. The rest of us rode in the Schneider trainer's car back to Leming. I didn't leave leming until about 4:00 a.m. to drive 45 minutes back to my house.

It was kind of a rough day for me. Mostly because I spent too much time standing around. My feet began hurting but partially it was my new Schneider issued steel toed boots which weren't properly broken in yet. I got to spend today at home resting. Friday I will go train on unloading the cement trucks. Hopefully we will figure out why they kept clogging and not have that problem anymore. Saturday Me and another Schneider driver should go out on a run together. If everything goes according to plan I will solo on Monday.

They are also training drivers on the trucks that move the silos which I believe are bobtail trucks.

 

So I made it through my second day. Started at 2 p.m. on Friday. Basically we took two empty "airslide" trailers, one silo hauler bobtail truck and a chase truck out to the rig site. We offloaded the first silo at the site. When empty the bobtail picked it up and we took it about 20 miles to another rig and then "blew down" offloaded all the cement from our two trucks. When finished we all drove back to the first site and unloaded the second silo and repeated this process. Basically we moved two cement filled silos from one rig site to another. It was less than an hour drive back to the yard. We rinsed off the trucks which are beginning to get quite full of cement dust. Then fueled up the trucks and we we were done about 3 a.m.

This was a much shorter day but still a lot of standing around in the south texas heat. I think I am starting to get the idea of how to load/unload these trucks. They still got clogged but we were able to clear the blockages much more efficiently.

Today my dispatcher said if I didn't have a load by 6 p.m. then they wouldn't dispatch me until Monday. I didn't get called today so I am getting the rest of the weekend off.

Right now we are getting $925.00 per week salary. We get paid every friday. After six weeks we will have a different pay system but I still don't know what it is. The work should get more regular once we get this account established and have a larger pool of drivers. Right now there are only about 5 of us training.

 

I had a pretty good training day Wednesday even though I got a call at 4 a.m. Me and another trainee went out to deliver a load of cement on our own for the first time. He is an older more experienced driver and very professional so I felt good going with him. He helped me also get the hang of how the unloading process works. We got the wrong directions but when we finally got to the rig site everything went smoothly. The truck unloaded quickly without any clogging. We drove 80 miles back to the yard and were finished by 3 p.m.

I got a call this morning at around 10:00 a.m. and was told there was no load for us today but then after lunch they called me back and asked me if I could make it in around 5:30 p.m. I waited for them to call but later they called and said the load was ready at 8 p.m. but wasn't released yet. Now I'm waiting for a call to get dispatched and it's getting close to midnight. It might not be released until 3 a.m. or later so I may as well get some sleep.

We also got another person to help with dispatch. Things may be getting more organized. I was told we will be on a 6/1 schedule rotating either saturday or sunday off. Later when it gets busy and we have a larger pool of drivers the schedule will be 5 on and 2 off.

 

So, work has been really slow. For one thing the two cement trucks were loaded with some junk cement. Apparently they are still sitting waiting for someone who wants to buy the cement. We were supposed to have 18 more trucks but the order is a month behind schedule they said. We have done some equipment moves for Schlumberger but even that mostly has stopped. I was told everything is fine and it will pick up soon. I believe it because I know what is happening in the oil and gas industry in south Texas(eagle ford shale). We are still on salary and get paid regardless so I have peace of mind about that. Basically I am on call 24/6 with one scheduled day off. The new terminal(cement plant) isn't officially opening in Von Ormy for at least another month either.

It is getting even hotter down here with temps over 100 every day. I'll be looking forward for a break in this heat. Tropical Storm Don didn't amount to anything except increasing the humidity for a few days.

One of our lead drivers and trainees were send down to Laredo for a week. I haven't been dispatched in more than a week. Once things get going and we have more drivers(50?) they say we will go to a 5 day schedule with 2 days off. Friday Saturday or Sunday Monday. Also they want to try to have day and night shifts.

I'll try to keep yall updated if anything changes or it gets busy.