Mike,

Thanks for the update. Looks like they are keeping you busy. Since you have been with them for a while now, are you glad you made the switch to tankers?

Be careful and saty safe.

 

Yep,I am real happy here and only wish I had switched earlier.Tankers are challenging and fun to do.

 

Mike,

I am glad you are enjoying the new work. Makes it sem less like "work" when you enjoy what you are doing. I will not be back out and running until after the first of the year. I will be running out of Nitro, WV and there are Dana, Suttles and LTC terminals in the area I may run into you one day.

Be careful and stay safe

 

Nitro is a great terminal for us,good guys there and good paying loads too.

 

That is a combination that is hard to beat. I know there is a lot of good freight out of the area. But like all thngs, there is some cheap stuff too.

I need to get back in touch with the guys there at Dana. I knew a lot of the Suttles and LTC drivers also, but it has been about 10 years since I worked tankers. I am getting anxious to get back.

I guess I need my head examined.

 

Week ending 8/12

Owosso,MI------>Trenton,MI (live load)
.....Trenton,MI------>Crestwood,IL (drop load,hook load)
Crestwood,IL------->Ringwood,IL (live unload)
.....Ringwood,IL------->Crestwood,IL (drop load,hook load)
Crestwood,IL------>Solon,OH (live unload)
.....Solon,OH------>Grove City,OH (drop dirty,hook clean)
.....Grove City,OH------>Columbus,OH (drop clean,hook load)
Columbus,OH------>Benton Harbor,MI (live unload)
.....Benton Harbor,MI----->Detroit,MI (drop dirty,hook clean)
Detroit,MI------>Owosso,MI (home time)

Total Miles: 1,906
Deadhead Miles: 464, 24%
Gross Pay: $2,960.87 ($1.55@ mile)
YTD Miles: 78,260
YTD Gross: $123,878.78 ($1.58@ mile)
Total loads:105
Hazmat: 67

 

2nd update for the week


Week ending 8/19

Owosso,MI----->Kalamazoo,MI (live load)
Kalamazoo,MI------->Arlington,TX (live unload)
......Arlington,TX------>La Porte,TX (drop dirty,hook load)
La Porte,TX------>Ft. Pierce,FL (drop load)
.....Ft. Pierce,FL------Jaksonville,FL (hook clean)
....Jacksonville,FL----->Panama City,FL (drop clean,hook load)


Total Mile: 3,261
Deadhead Miles: 1045, 32% (totally unacceptable)
Gross Pay: $4,275.22 ($1.31@ mile)
YTD Miles: 81,521
YTD Gross: $128,154.00 ($1.57@ mile)
Total loads: 107
Hazmat: 69

 

Mike3Fan wrote:

Week ending 8/19

Owosso,MI----->Kalamazoo,MI (live load)
Kalamazoo,MI------->Arlington,TX (live unload)
......Arlington,TX------>La Porte,TX (drop dirty,hook load)
La Porte,TX------>Ft. Pierce,FL (drop load)
.....Ft. Pierce,FL------Jaksonville,FL (hook clean)
....Jacksonville,FL----->Panama City,FL (drop clean,hook load)


Total Mile: 3,261
Deadhead Miles: 1045, 32% (totally unacceptable)

Mike,

I see running FL hasn't changed since I was pulling tanks. I pulled for Younger Brothers back then and I would run from Nitro, WV to Naples, Tampa, Orlando, Palatka and J-ville only to deadhead back to Orangeburg, SC for my next load. I seem to remember several runs to Fl that ended when I ran empty back to Nitro.

Be careful and stay safe.

 

I wanted to give a detailed break down of what a couple of weeks worth of tanker work is like,I will use these two weeks as an example of 2 random weeks.

My first load was to be picked up in Trenton,MI on Monday morning at 10:00 and I arrived at 0930,this place has 2 seperate building one across the street from the other,I weighed in empty at one building and signed in with the guard and got my badge and went across the street to the other building to sign in with that guard and turn in my cell phone,after the guard called the loading rack I was called around back and positioned under the loading rack where I sat in my truck reading a magazine while I was loaded.

Loading took about 45min and I headed back across the street to get my loaded weight and then back to the loading building to wait about 20min for my paper work to be done,in total I was there 2 hrs and left just before noon.

I drove pretty much straight thru to our Chicago terminal in Crestwood,IL and dropped the load in the yard to be delivered the next day by a city driver.After checking with dispatch there was not much going on that afternoon and decided that I would take a local run that delivered up around the WI border at 0700 on Tues.

Delivery was to a little plant in the middle of a small town in northern IL and I had to use one of my hoses and I was helped in hooking every thing up by an employee of said company.Unloading was done by air pressure and took a normal hour or so to unload.After getting all paper work signed and putting the dirty hose and fittings back on the truck I left within 1 1/2 hrs.

When I arrived back at the termianl I had the hose and fittings washed out at the tank wash on the terminal property.The next load I took was to be delivered in Solon,OH the next morning and I drove most of the way to the delivery that afternoon,by the way the load was pre-loaded in the yard and I left right after I got my stuff washed.

Now I consider myself pretty good at backing into difficult spots and doing so in a timely manner.....oh but this was by far the worst place I have every had to get into and I have been driving for 21 years,I had to back down a single lane driveway along the side of the building and then blind side around the back side of the building where the unloading spot was.Problem was that there was a forest less than a truck length to the back of the building,and it took me 45 min to work my way around the corner making roughly 85 pullups(no exageration).

This was my first experence in a gravity unload and after getting 40' of hose set up and opening the valves I was unloading in 95 degree weather with about 80% humidity,the unloading area was also poorly set up in the fact that it was a little high in the backend so I had to crank up the dollies on the trailer as far as I could to try to get the front of the trailer high enough to get the product off.

Total time spent unoading this load was 3 1/2 hrs that included another 30 min pulling out from behind the building(I will never go back to this customer).

After calling dispatch I was to deadhead to Columbus,OH to pick up a load for Benton Harbor,MI for delivery on the next morning,just before I make it to the terminal I get a call that the load has been pushed back til tommorrow and that ther are no other loads to be had,I spend the night at the terminal where they have a shower and nice drivers lounge.

The next morning I find out that my load will not be ready until 1700 and will deliver on Friday at 0700,so I spend the day in my truck basically doing nothing but keeping up with CAD and many other websites.

I had my hoses and fittings washed out at the tank wash and picked up a empty trailer to take over to the shipper,you must drop weigh the empty trailer at a junk yard before taking it into this shipper,this takes about 20min. After I arrive it takes me a few minutes to locate anyone that knows anything about what load I am taking and after we get it figured out I am hooked up and on my way to Benton Harbor where I sleep the night at the trcuk stop 2 miles from the consignee.

Delivery the next morning is done by air and the product is nozzled off into 300 gallon totes,usually this process takes a long while to complete,but this day it is completed in 45min. I did have to use my hose with their nozzle.

After I call dispatch I am told to get a hold of our Chicago terminal and see what they have,well they don't get in until 10est so I just start heading that way and will call after they get in.Just as I am getting on the expressway to head to Chicago our Detroit terminal calls and say they have a load going to Arlington,TX that loads in Kalamazoo,MI(40 miles away),only problem is we don't have any clean trailers in the area and don't have time to get mine washed out before they close,so I deadhead to Detroit to get a clean one and my hose washed out and I will take the empty home and load on Monday morning.

So I arrive home on Friday afternoon around 5pm and will leave out on Monday morning around 8am.

I get to the shipper and they are not ready for me yet and I wait about 45min to get to the loading rack,I stay in the truck and loading is done in a 1/2 hr. after a few minutes I am headed to Texas.I make it to southern IL and shut down for the night.The next day I finish the trip into Dallas where I find an Idleaire site and wait for my 0700 delivery.

My delivery is to the GM plant in Arlington and after finding someone in the plant to tell me where to unload I use 1 hose and the plants air to unload,it must have been about 200 degrees or atleast that what it seemed like to me.It takes almost 2 hrs from start to finish and I head out after calling dispatch for La Porte,TX to pick up a load going to FL.

I arrive in the early afternoon and my load isn't back from being loaded yet,so I take a little nap waiting for it to come in,I don't get my hose washed out there because they are real busy and I won't need it on this trip.

The load I am to take to Fort Pierce,FL is going to the Bahamas and is going on a ferry boat to get there,I leave and make it into LA before shutting down.The next day I make it to Wildwood,FL to the TA and hook up to Idleaire for the night.I make the delivery to a shipping company on the docks and I spend exactly 10 min there getting paperwork signed and trailer dropped.......nice :lol:

I call dispatch and am surprised to find out we son't have anything coming out!,ok not really.I am told to head for Savanna,GA and will get a load there,just before I get to Daytona Beach I am told to call our Panama City terminal for a load going to VA.
I call and told to go to our Jacksonville terminal and get a empty trailer from the tank wash and bring it to the terminal in Panama City and drop it and my load will be sitting in the yard going to NC because the load to VA got cancelled.

I don't think too much about it but after a little while I start looking at the miles and wasn't very happy to see the milage between Daytona,Jacksonville and Panama City.

Anyway I get to Panama City and my load is dropped there with a real nice bulged out trailer tire that needs to be replaced and there is no one around as it is 7pm on Friday night,I decide that I can nurse it about 50 miles to a TA truck stop where I can get it replaced in the morning.

On saturday morning I get the tire replaced and I am off to NC.

That is basically 2 normal weeks of running for me,total miles for the 2 weeks was 5,167 and the gross pay for the 2 weeks was $7,239.06 for a avg of a little over $1.40 a mile,not great for sure but I had IMO some unneccesary deadhead miles which killed my avg.

 

week ending 8/26

Panama City,FL------->Wilson,NC (driver unload)
......Wilson,NC------->Charlotte,NC (drop dirty)
......Charlotte,NC------>Elgin,SC (hook load)
Elgin,SC------>Midland,MI (drop load)

Total Miles: 1,917
Deadhead Miles: 325, 17%
Gross Pay: $3016.11 ($1.57@ mile)
YTD Miles: 83,438
YTD Gross: $129,705.82 ($1.55@ mile)
Total loads:109
Hazmat: 70