Physical Requirements For Tanker

Hi everyone,

Do you know what are the physical requirements for tankers? I mean how many pounds do you need to be able to lift and move in order to perform the job like delivering fuel and gasoline?

Thanks.

I haul milk not fuel. I think our hoses are similar to theirs. They aren't that difficult to move around. Two differences I can think of are;

1. We need to climb the ladders on the trailers.

2. We need to chain up to keep moving in bad weather. We slow down. Really slow. But we need to keep moving.

For physical requirements, throwing 3 railers is by far the most difficult part.

Mental requirements are more important in this job. There’s a lot of fuel haulers around here in their seventies and even a couple in their eighties, so obviously the physical part of the job is not overly onerous. Having the mindset that allows you to do the job for forty years with no incidents is the hard part.

Probably haven’t lifted anything over twenty pound in this job. We do do a lot of standing around in the weather while delivering.

Having the mindset that allows you to do the job for forty years with no incidents is the hard part.

Amen to that. That applies to all trucking jobs. You either have a mindset of long-term safety or you don't. If you don't, it will catch up with you. You can not keep rolling the dice and keep on winning forever. At some point, you'll roll snake eyes.

I pulled a food-grade tanker myself but never hauled gasoline. There was no heavy lifting for me. Hoses were the only thing I had to move around, and they didn't weigh very much. I wouldn't expect gasoline or chemical tankers to be any different, but you could find a specific job that requires some heavy lifting. They would tell you up front if that was the case.

Thank you very much for your replies, guys!

Agree very much with this. In my area as well there are quite a few older fuel haulers. They just take their time and do it right. Age and fitness are far less relevant than your head being in the right place. Mistakes happen in a moment of stray thought, and are very expensive, very dangerous, or both. Accidentally hook your hose up to the wrong compartment, and u may drop thousands of gallons of gas into a diesel tank or vice versa. If you catch the error you'll shut that store down for the day until their tanks can be pumped out, which is an expensive and time consuming task. If you don't catch it you may cause tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to the customers engines who purchased that fuel.

The physicality of the job isn't a major issue. Complacency is the biggest challenge.

Mental requirements are more important in this job. There’s a lot of fuel haulers around here in their seventies and even a couple in their eighties, so obviously the physical part of the job is not overly onerous. Having the mindset that allows you to do the job for forty years with no incidents is the hard part.

Probably haven’t lifted anything over twenty pound in this job. We do do a lot of standing around in the weather while delivering.

I fuel freight train engines. We only haul red dyed diesel. In our straight truck we load up to 4600 gallons, in the semis we load up to 7000 gallons. We hook up our nozzle to the filler neck on the engine. We must lock the nozzle to the filler neck. Sometimes that is just above your head. The nozzle can be disconnected from the hose, that can make it easier to hook it to a tricky one. It's more mental than physical. We must be in contact with the tower or trainmaster and put up signs. These signs are the equivalent of a lockout/tag out. Then it's important not to leave anything behind. Rail yards at night are fun.

With tanker there are hoses and nozzles to lift and ladders to climb. I don't think it's that physical of a job.

I’ve been hauling fuel for about 3 years now and I’m way out of shape. The toughest part of the job for me is getting in and out of the tractor with a bad knee. We have a few customers who made terrible decisions on their drop placements for their tanks that make it very difficult. Sometimes I have to run a 20’ hose under the trailer because the drops for different products are on opposite sides. Lifting that hose full of gas and trying to drain it can be tough. We have other customers who placed their drops above the level of our load heads so you’re technically dropping fuel uphill. When those hoses are full of diesel, they can be extremely heavy and difficult to manage without making a huge mess. Sometimes I think we deliver to those places because other companies refuse to due to driver safety. If you go with one of the bigger companies that mainly does gas stations, it shouldn’t be too bad. You can always get creative and never have to lift a full hose like I try to do if I can. We carry jugs of diesel additive to dump in before we drop… I keep a few of the empty ones around to place under the hose so it’s a gradual downhill from the trailer to the drop tube. Work smarter, not harder.

Sometimes I have to run a 20’ hose under the trailer because the drops for different products are on opposite sides. Lifting that hose full of gas and trying to drain it can be tough.

Wow, your trailers are not set up to unload on both sides? That's rough.

We have other customers who placed their drops above the level of our load heads so you’re technically dropping fuel uphill. When those hoses are full of diesel, they can be extremely heavy and difficult to manage without making a huge mess.

Get yourself one of these.

Hose drainer tool