What does the job of a tanker truck driver involve?

Learn how to become a tanker truck driver

Tanker Truck Driving

The job of a tanker truck driver involves the transport of huge shipments of gases or liquids within cities and even across far places. This job uses tanker trucks that are equipped with reinforced metal tanks.  These trucks are specially made to carry sensitive chemicals and substances. Drivers are likely to carry tanks of fuels to some gas stations, take away sewage from septic tanks and transport huge amounts of milk to manufacturers. A tanker truck driver who ships gasoline, oil or industrial chemicals should pass hazardous materials training before he can work independently. To make sure that the driver safely operates huge tanker trucks, he is normally asked to possess a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Obtaining this license will involve passing a series of tests that could be feasible when the driver undergoes a driving lesson in a driving school.

A tanker truck driver may work for a municipal government, a wholesale distributor that takes care of the preparation of fuel or agricultural products or a trucking company. There are also drivers of this kind who prefer to purchase their own specialty vehicles and have their own contracting business. Tanker truck drivers who deliver commodities and fuel are expected to be on the road for many hours due to making a number of stops in the city or driving through distant places between rural points of destinations.

A fuel or oil truck driver visits truck stops, industrial sites and gas stations to refill reservoir. He has the responsibility to hook up hoses and safely dispense fuel. People who transport water or food products stops at distributing or commercial packaging plants where they will be assisted by other employees unload their trucks into designed reservoirs. When it comes to tanker truck services for food products, sanitation and safety are observed and maintained. Procedures in the delivery of commodities usually come with careful documentation. In his transporting job, the driver must use what he has learned from the driving school lessons he may have attained to previously.

Drivers who have a job with some government organizations will do some public services like removing septic tank wastes. These people extract materials with the use of pumps and hoses that are usually built into the tankers.  The local sanitation codes state that the waste must be brought by drivers to a designated treatment facility and unload their trucks. Truck drivers usually have another person with him to assist in navigating, maneuvering and connecting pumps.

If you want to be a tanker truck driver, you should start by getting a CDL and this can be done by attending a driver’s training program from an accredited driving school and passing written and practical driving tests. If your job will involve hauling radioactive or harmful substances, you are required to take specialized trainings for hazardous materials that you can finish while you are on the job during the first few weeks of your employment at a certain trucking company. When you will get yourself into fuel delivery, you must pass extra safety training that includes right dispensing methods.

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