Hi all 1st time posting in this forum (dont consider myself a new and definatly not a wannabe driver anymore)
but i have a question…
I have been doing general haulage since (and before) passing my class 1 and although i love truck driving im getting a little pee’d off with the irregular starts and the constant battle with dodgy curtains stubborn posts and fifth wheel grease that other drivers spread around with reckless abandon, not to mention the sometimes unachievable delivery or collection times…
So…
I have just been offered a job doing container work out of southampton (but will be based in South Wales…)
If what i have been told by another driver at my place who is starting next Monday is true then i will be taking the unit home with me not working from a depot. The money is a lot better than what im already on. And the job will be a lot cleaner as i will just be opening the back doors and reversing onto a bay or ramp…
All sounds wonderful yeah…
And now my question… could i please have replies from people doing or done this type of work…
What are the pro’s and cons of this kind of work because i would like a good idea of the job before i commit myself and hand in my notice with my present employer…
Your insight would be gratefully recieved… Thanks…
Its true that boxes are a lot cleaner work than tauts or tilts. You still get irregular start/finish times and unacheivable delivery times. The biggest thing on boxes can be classed as a pro or a con, and thats waiting around! Waiting to get a box on, waiting to tip/load, waiting to get the box off. All in all though not a bad job. Oh, and running out of Southampton the A34 can become VERY tedious!
Good luck, see you on the quay.
I was on container work and it is a good job. You are right about just opening back doors backing on to bay and getting on bunk while you get tipped 
However, as tramper says there are the long waits to load/unload boxes at dock, early/late finishes and sometimes I did have to tip the boxes when tipping onto small ind. units/farms with no forktrucks or delivering to likes of Aldi/Lidl etc. I would go back to it if I left current job 
And taking the unit home violates the operators licence of the company. You could also find yourself in trouble for it.
If it’s for DHL forget it.
Welcome to trucknet
Tramper:
Its true that boxes are a lot cleaner work than tauts or tilts. You still get irregular start/finish times and unacheivable delivery times. The biggest thing on boxes can be classed as a pro or a con, and thats waiting around! Waiting to get a box on, waiting to tip/load, waiting to get the box off. All in all though not a bad job. Oh, and running out of Southampton the A34 can become VERY tedious!
Good luck, see you on the quay.
As tramper says there are long delays to be had at docks ESPECIALLY Southampton which can be 3-4 hr turnaround on a bad and 1 hr on a good day (more bad than good though,so it makes it very difficult to plan your day,times and hrs e.t.c.Isle of Grain was also getting bad before I left
I absolutely loved it,The only real faults are THE DOCKS,and the most boring route in England as Penfold pointed out THE A34,
I will definately go back to it,I dont think that I would want to do anything else,as the money is pretty good (depending on firm you work for)and you go over the place,and with my not so healthy back,not having to lump things around lift and carry was very nice.sleeping whilst tipping is also very nice 
There still is irregular starting times,and long days,made worse by THE DOCKS so you cant really plan how far your gonna get up the road until you’ve got your box on some days it works out really well,and other days your 2-3 hrs behind where you wanted to stop for the night (keeps the brain working though)
All the best to you anyway,you’ll either love it or hate it,but once you do it I dont think you’ll wanna do anything else
Arrived at Felixstowe at 8 this morning. Booked into 86 to get empty taken off & round to Trinity to pick up a box for Birmingham. On booking in, I was told it’s at Landguard (different dock). So back round to Landguard only to be told that it can’t be loaded until 7 tonight due to all the manpower being moved to Trinity to unload ships 
Waited for 2 hours to be told that box has been cancelled & to pick one up for Keighley for tommorow.
Take the rough with the smooth.
There’s good and bad in every job.
I liked container work because you don’t touch the load other than open the back doors and where the load isn’t on pallets inside, it usually meant 2-4hrs to tip which was an excellent opportunity to get my head down for same amount of time.
The bad side of it - for me - was the money. I’ve worked for a few different container pulling companies in my time and considered a good few more but unless your company is pulling directly for a major shipping line, you’ll usually be on pretty lowly money in comparison to other haulage work. The most I’ve ever taken on container work was £350 take home per week with £20 per night out money on top of that, which usually averaged 65-70hrs over a 5 day week. For this area that’s pretty good money for container work in my opinion and you’d struggle to find another company in the area matching it. Usual take home seems to be around the £330-380 mark (incl overnight money) from talking to other container folks and doubt it to be much different in S.Wales to be honest.
A lot of smaller companies will expect you to run bent, especially when there are long delay’s at the docks because you don’t get paid for sitting around (usually).
Most companies doing containers pay a set wage, about £400 + nights out. But the hours are not set, they have you doing max hours every day + sat, especially if its Maritime ( Avoid like the plague ). They’ll be trying to tell you to reduce your daily rest and do a 15 here and a 15 there, and end up speeding about trying to stick to their times, apart from them phoning you all the time, especially first thing in the morning " Oh just wondering how your doing and if your gonna get there in time" me “If I wasn’t Id tell you ya £$%^&(*” 
Containers can be good, and I woudn’t mind going back to it with the right motor ( see below ) and deffo not Maritime or Elite - thankee kindly - Anybody got one like that for me 
if its for maritime, forget it. they have a new manager who is sacking drivers for unbelievably trivial reasons in southampton.
if you see a rank hovis rigid or artic, it could be me so get out of my bloody way
scanny77:
if its for maritime, forget it. they have a new manager who is sacking drivers for unbelievably trivial reasons in southampton.
if you see a rank hovis rigid or artic, it could be me so get out of my bloody way
It won’t be you Richie, because you’ll still be in the yard under the trailer with your torch and defect book 
Rob K:
scanny77:
if its for maritime, forget it. they have a new manager who is sacking drivers for unbelievably trivial reasons in southampton.
if you see a rank hovis rigid or artic, it could be me so get out of my bloody wayIt won’t be you Richie, because you’ll still be in the yard under the trailer with your torch and defect book
Rob K:
scanny77:
if its for maritime, forget it. they have a new manager who is sacking drivers for unbelievably trivial reasons in southampton.
if you see a rank hovis rigid or artic, it could be me so get out of my bloody wayIt won’t be you Richie, because you’ll still be in the yard under the trailer with your torch and defect book
@ Rob!
PMSL
you should be well aware of the possible consequences of faulty equipment by now Rob. if you dont, i dont want you anywhere near me out on the road. a little reminder news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfo … 122082.stm
Gee, if you guys think that’s bad, try pulling containers here in the US. Over here, container work is basically the toilet of the industry.
A wait of 3-4 hours at the port of Newark, NJ would be considered short. Try 8-10 hour waits. That’s pretty normal.
Then, when you get the load, it’s on some crummy chassis that probably is missing a few lights, may or may not have functioning brakes, and might dog-track so bad that it wants to take up half of the next lane!
Most of the time, these loads are handball loads, too, so after you drive illegally to make the delivery, you still have 2-3 hours of toiling on the dock to get the freight off.
You guys don’t know how good you have it.
just a bit of advice for containers…
1, get a dvd AND video
2, join the libray
3, more poa than you can dream off.
4, queues like you never seen before.
scanny77:
you should be well aware of the possible consequences of faulty equipment by now Rob. if you dont, i dont want you anywhere near me out on the road. a little reminder news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfo … 122082.stm
I detect a SOHF. 
im on container work out of felixstowe if you can stand the waiting around at the docks to get loaded and waiting to tip at delivery point then its the easyest job in the world .like jessica dad said get your self a dvd or video or like me a playstation because you will need then good luck
Rob K:
SOHF 
marcustandy:
SOHF
Sense of Humour Failure was my guess