Driving Bulk(tankers)

[Marine68]

Anyone out there drive bulk? How did you like it.

[patrick]

I applied last week to a company here in Tallahassee Florida. Id like to know about bulk tankers myself. Like how long it takes to load and unload one. Id be hauling cement, gas and other things.

[grocery thrower]

I pulled a pneumatic 4 hopper hauling flour for about a year and a half, I liked it, that was the last job I did for the very first company I drove for, as for unload time it all depends,
I pulled soft wheat out of MI and we had small hoppers to blow it into you had to keep the pressure low so it took about 2 1/2 hrs to pump off 50,000 lbs, when I got hard wheat we had great big hoppers to pump into I could run at a high pressure and could pump off in about 1 1/2 hrs, thats for 48,000 - 50,000. All I hauled was flour, it was by far the easiest job I ever did, the only hard part was handling the hoses and that wasn't that hard at all.

[patrick]

How did you get payed. The guy i talked to says they pay a pecentage of the load which varies by what your hauling. Cement he said pays about 34 dollars a load and you usaully haul 4 loads a day. Does that sound right?

[Boats]

I pulled bulk tankers,smooth bore, compartment,baffles. Unloading depends on the product and if your going to air or pump it off. Pumping takes longer. Airing is easy and not as messy to clean up. I ran local/regional for Schneider. We used to get $70 to load/unload and $25 to drop plus mileage. Then they changed the pay to $25 to load/unload $15 to drop plus mileage. That's why I left and am here at UPSF. Tankwagons are easy but very dangerous. I always wore all my ppe. Some of the oldtimers would laugh at me for doing so. But it paid off I did it for 3 yrs and no battle scars. To be honest try to get on with an LTL. The pay and bennies are much better. Best of luck.

[pcuthbert]

Bulk products are a good job in my opinion.

I've been doing it for 20 years with my current employer.

Primarily, I haul fuel. Double trailers that load 13,000 gallons of diesel legal, or 16,000 gallons of gas.

Our gross limit here is 140,000 pounds.

Fuel generally takes from 15 to 30 minutes to load, and can be from 30 to 90 minutes to unload, depending upon whether it is a gravity drop (with up to 4 connections) or a pump off (1 connection).

Pneumatics take different amounts of time to unload depending upon the product and the blower you have.

Light powders take less time than pebbled lime ( about the size of 3/4 inch gravel). Think anywhere from 100 to 800 pounds a minute.

Dry hoppers are the quickest to unload if the facility is set up well. Usually under a half hour, including the sweep out.

Pressure vessels ( propane or other volatile liquid) take about 1/2 hour to load, and can take 2 to 3 hours to unload depending on the facility, and whether or not you can return the vapour to your tank.

It is good work, but it requires that you pay attention, and follow the rules that have been laid out for you by those who have gone before you.