Tankers the way to go?

Tanker trailers are more expensive to own and maintain than your average boxvan or open deck. Insurance and liability is exponentially more expensive as well. I don't know about the food grade side, but with hazmat tanker, a lot of customers require a certain level of guaranteed reliability in the means of dedicated pool trailers that a single truck can't provide. Most owner/ops will find a company they like with access to good freight and lease on. There are also tanker companies that are purely O/O.

It's not impossible to go it on your own, but it's not so much an uphill battle as it is a cliff face.

 

I started off in bulk. My company out of New Market would have had me at 25 before allowing me to double my take home running gasoline. Some days in bulk is plenty of money, but in those days we raced for it to get the 5 loads in each day for that.

 

Your better off leasing on to a good company.
Way to many variables and different loads to just have one trailer.

 

Not to mention never "go find an empty" again. Dispatch will TELL you which trailer, and WHERE to find it.

 

Does chemical tanker work slow down during this time of year? I know most work slows down around winter but I mean do you experience a drastic slowdown?

 

For us it’s usually January and some of February. But there is still work.

 

I'm dedicated to 1 customer and we slow during winter since so many of their customers are asphalt producers. It's nice to have a guaranteed weekly check during the slow times.

 

It sure is nice. Who do you work for again?

 

Cant speak for the whole company
But out our yard we do a lot of deicer to both O'Hare and Midway airports.
We haul runway and wing deicer.
I wish we'd slow down, An 8 hr day every now and then would be nice

 

Our pay guarantee is only for our terminal, not company wide. If I mention the name it might cause someone to think they will get it where they live.