Novelist with a question

Well PCraig
The first thing a company would most likely do is to call Law Enforcement
and report a missing truck in the last known city or town.
Giving officials every piece of info on the truck they could.
Drivers Name
Age
unit number
trailer number
commodity
last known where abouts
load destination.
everything.

Hope I could help

 

Some (not all) companies have very strict rules when hauling HazMat loads.

Two I am aware of, require contact with their safety departments every time the truck stops and starts. Their QC/GPS are set to "ping" their respective safety departments when the truck stops or starts.

Safety would first try to contact the driver directly, having failed that. They would contact authorities immediately. And continue to track the load if possible.

From that point it would be up to Federal/State/Local to do their jobs.

 

PCraig,

Please keep in mind (for your novel) IF you intend to use a "corrosive" load for your hypothetical load, it will need a touch of realism. IE the hijackers will need to know what is on the trailer.

Because in reality, a load of syrup additive for soft drinks (Pepsi, coke, Dr. pepper) is placard as Corrosive. While the general public may not be aware of this. It lends credibility to your story line if the hijackers KNOW what they are getting LOL.

 

Most company trucks have satellites. It's very easy to locate where the truck is at all times. The trucking companies have the satellites, not the shipper.

 

Wel ,yes and no. Not all companies use QualComm (although the HM hauling cos probably all do), and you can shut the truck-mounted beacon off (mainly so your company cannot see what you are about to do).

And sometimes, in inclement weather (like a really cloudy day) it's reception and transmission can be severly hampered.

 

Actually quite the contrary is true about all trucks have sattelites, there are very , very many companies without sattelite tracking on the road today, several of which hauling haz-mat.
If you stop and reflect here a moment, every owner-op. is a " trucking company" and although many are leased to companies with sat-tracking, houndreds even thousands of o/o's run on thier own authority, not including the small outfits who dont run sattelite equipped trucks,

thats just my 2 cents

Gary

 

Okay... I thought he was talking about a trucker working for a trucking company. I believe MOST decent-sized trucking companies use satellite these days. O/O and small outfits do not, of course.