I have worked in this job for 11 years now and have become quite experienced, although there is no such thing as an expert and we learn something new every day, so on Wednesday as I sat preloading a tanker with sucrose for Coca Cola when the refinery boss knocked on my cab door. Until a couple of years ago I was the site supervisor for our company and was responsible for most of the workings involving my company, alas one day I get a call from management asking me if I could either spend every day at the refinery to do yard trailer checks at least twice a day instead of the checks I did when in the area, I drive long distances and could not be there every day obviously and so I decided to step down and hand the job to the next in line, the stress was getting me down anyway and with my cancer situation things would be worse, trouble is that the Domino’s management still seem to rely on me and my advice rather than anyone else, so this man asks “So Pat, what’s the plan of action with that load of molasses ?”
“What load of molasses ?” I asked. He then explained that one of our newer guys had loaded a trailer and it was seriously overloaded and just dropped and left in the yard, unable to be pulled out of the plant, I was given the tank number and went to get it, I immediately knew why it was overloaded, it was a 7,000 gallon tanker and Domino’s only permit 5,000 gallon tankers for loading, some pillock had dropped this thing in Dominos’ and left it, then the other driver who didn’t know the rules decided to load it with molasses, thing it that molasses is not loaded using a meter but the driver has to measure the distance from the top of the manhole to the liquid inside, in a 5,000 gallon tanker the distance for molasses is 11 inches but this trailer was 2,000 gallons bigger and so when finished it was 2,000 gallons over I hooked up and gingerly pulled it to an unloading port, hooked up and opened the valve to the pump but nothing came out. I took huge risk and opened the gravity feed cap hoping I would not get buried and not a thing came out. When loading molasses the tanker does not have to be sterilized or washed out because it just goes to cattle feed manufacture or even fertilizer, so he didn’t worry about the previous cargo or if any was left inside. When I pulled the plug I saw a blockage of solid crap, almost like plastic, none of us could figure it out, I managed to pull some out with a bar but it was like rubber and plastic mixed. I couldn’t unload and we were all baffled.
After doing some research I discovered the previous load had been ‘Dextrose’ which it turns out sets like hard plastic when cold and when mixed with other liquids just sets solid, the tanker had about 6 inches of dextrose in the bottom, the chemical reaction with the molasses turned the load into a solid 7,000 gallon block of plastic. I have no idea how they are going to get the stuff out ? Last In heard they have a truck with ‘In transit heat’ hooked up and running, they are going to run it for 48 hours to try and melt the stuff, I don’t hold out much hope.
Let this be a lesson to all you hope full tanker drivers out there, always check the previous cargo before loading
I deliver whey permeate and molasses to farms and digesters but in the past this included a mix of other stuff, needed or not as we have a modern tanker that can facilitate human comsumpion food stuff my Co driver and myself keep a log of everyoad we carry, dated and signed.
we are not obliged to as every place only want your last three loads but we do anyway.
My company record every previous load, the trouble is that the driver should firstly have called to see if it was safe to load, he just saw the empty tank and didn’t even consider checking. I personally open the back up and check the previous cargo documents which every driver is supposed to leave with the trailer. As I said with molasses it doesn’t matter what the previous cargo was and it is not required to wash or sterilize the tank. Domino sugar are very strict about the proper washing and sterilizing of all tankers used for sugar, amber and other food products used for human consumption, if this guy has taken the trailer to the wash they would have refused it there and then.
I was talking to my dispatcher yesterday afternoon and he told me that the entire pump and gravity feed had been removed but the dextrose had, as I suggested set solid, the trailer will now remain hooked to a truck with ‘in transit heat’ for 2 days in an attempt to soften the load and enable it to be pumped off.
Wheel Nut 3:
If you just want the load out you could use live steam up its arse or drop a steam coil into the manlids.
If the drivers are leaving 6” of Dextrose in a tanker they need putting on a flat trailer
The driver has been severely reprimanded but I doubt it will do any good, this is the second time he has dropped a 7,000 gallon trailer inside the refinery even though he was told before, I suspect he didn’t drop it in our yard which is next door because that would involve having to reverse into possible tight spaces LOL. Security let him in because the have no idea what the difference is between any tanker. Also he is a twonk for not reporting the content or leaving it at a recognized tank wash we use which is in NJ and he passed by on his way in.
A Dutch company had a tank en route to Russia with chocolate. The truck was damaged and the trailer recovered, by the time it was in Holland the chocolate was solid, you can’t steam it or it burns. They parked the trailer in a heated spray painting oven. It worked for them.
I once worked for Cleanaway as a “Chempac” chemist.
My tanker driver called me one day as he had a part load of caustic soda on, and his next job was collecting PVA glue. He didn’t want to have to tip the caustic first and as far as I was concerned it was fine, off you go…(obviously it wasn’t really my call).
About five hours later I get a call from Technical Control telling me I need to get up to Pitsea landfill NOW (about 4pm on a Friday, so a run from Southampton to Essex was going to be fun). When I finally arrived, I’m trooped out to the tip face to the tanker and the back door is swung open - and I’m confronted with a 15 tonne, translucent white jelly, slowly wobbling in the sunset! I’m handed a pick axe and a shovel, and am left to get on with it.
khdgsa:
I once worked for Cleanaway as a “Chempac” chemist.
My tanker driver called me one day as he had a part load of caustic soda on, and his next job was collecting PVA glue. He didn’t want to have to tip the caustic first and as far as I was concerned it was fine, off you go…(obviously it wasn’t really my call).
About five hours later I get a call from Technical Control telling me I need to get up to Pitsea landfill NOW (about 4pm on a Friday, so a run from Southampton to Essex was going to be fun). When I finally arrived, I’m trooped out to the tip face to the tanker and the back door is swung open - and I’m confronted with a 15 tonne, translucent white jelly, slowly wobbling in the sunset! I’m handed a pick axe and a shovel, and am left to get on with it.
I once left bentonite on a tank overnite .wont do that again in a hurry lol
khdgsa:
I once worked for Cleanaway as a “Chempac” chemist.
My tanker driver called me one day as he had a part load of caustic soda on, and his next job was collecting PVA glue. He didn’t want to have to tip the caustic first and as far as I was concerned it was fine, off you go…(obviously it wasn’t really my call).
About five hours later I get a call from Technical Control telling me I need to get up to Pitsea landfill NOW (about 4pm on a Friday, so a run from Southampton to Essex was going to be fun). When I finally arrived, I’m trooped out to the tip face to the tanker and the back door is swung open - and I’m confronted with a 15 tonne, translucent white jelly, slowly wobbling in the sunset! I’m handed a pick axe and a shovel, and am left to get on with it.
I once left bentonite on a tank overnite .wont do that again in a hurry lol
Why is that then? We used to sit with Bentonite in tanks for days whilst P&G decide they had room for it, and that was after having brought it from Italy, it came out without any problem. The main issue with Bentonite was to ensure a totally dry tank before loading due to it being anhydrous and expanding hugely if it gets wet. I’m just curious what your experience was.
I hooked up and gingerly pulled it to an unloading port, hooked up and opened the valve to the pump but nothing came out. I took huge risk and opened the gravity feed cap hoping I would not get buried and not a thing came out. When loading molasses the tanker does not have to be sterilized or washed out because it just goes to cattle feed manufacture or even fertilizer, so he didn’t worry about the previous cargo or if any was left inside. When I pulled the plug I saw a blockage of solid crap, almost like plastic, none of us could figure it out, I managed to pull some out with a bar but it was like rubber and plastic mixed. I couldn’t unload and we were all baffled.