Can anyone let me know what work on sugar tankers is all about?
I’m after some general info and more precisely about working on British Sugar tankers.
Is it a dirty work, how long it takes to load and unload a tank, is there much waiting around to load or tip?
Anything you know, really
Thanks
Don’t know anything about them personaly. But I reckon they must be a sweet little number lol. Geddit a SWEET little number? Boom, boom!
Turners of Soham used to or still have the contract. Usually working with the liquid rather than the powder.
Obviously you need to be near one of the few that’s left sugar beet factories. Bury st Edmunds Whissington Newark.
I’m pretty sure it’s still Turners, it’s usually carried in the stainless steel tankers that say foodstuffs on the back.
Not sure on the money, if it’s anything like the blokes on reefers out of Donnington or Spalding I’d stay clear.
I did liquid sugar tankers for years loading and unloading all over Europe , we did a lot of work for Roquette Frères,cerestar ,amylum .
as it’s food stuff everything has to be clean ! , they used to inspect and swob test the inside of the tank ,pipes,couplings before loading ,
it’s not a dirty job but just make sure you wear Wellington boots at the cleaning station , once the tank has been cleaned make sure the cleaning station seals everything and you get the cleaning certificate ,
Yes you can sit around waiting to load , it all depends on if it’s ready also when you arrive at your tipping point company’s usually check the temp of the sugar take a sample and test it first before allowing you to tip , as for how long it takes to tip , that depends on if they have room in the tank ,how quick they test the sugar also how far the tank is your filling , how thick the sugar is and are you pumping or blowing , we had some places where we could knock out 25t in 45minutes and other places where it took 1h 30 min , the quickest place we use to tip was a factory in France where you used there pump and that would take 30min .
Isn’t British sugar done by Sutton?
hkloss1:
Can anyone let me know what work on sugar tankers is all about?
I’m after some general info and more precisely about working on British Sugar tankers.
Is it a dirty work, how long it takes to load and unload a tank, is there much waiting around to load or tip?
Anything you know, reallyThanks
It was a long time ago when i done it and i never discharged, only loaded and trunked. For either Tate&Lyle or Hoyer, out the same place, Silvertown in London. There seemed to be more powder tanks than liquid tanks, so in general waiting to load powder was longer. Tipping, although i never done it you never had to wait, just into the factory and discharge at the point.
Is it dirty work ? Well all the pipework is fastened along side the trailer, so yes you’d need overalls to grapple about with it and gloves, thats for discharging. Depends what your idea of "dirty work " is i suppose.
Loading is as easy as climbing the ladder and undoing the hatch. And on the powder tankers conecting up your hydraulic lines to lift the tank for loading.
I seem to remember something about steam lines for the liquid tankers in cold weather, can;t quite remember the detail.
And of course its all regular as clockwork boring mundane stuff !!
Thanks for replying , lads
does it get very sticky, since it’s sugar?
I mean your cloths, inside the cab, does it get quickly sticky, or can you keep that stickiness out of your clothes and the cab?
If you know anything else, flee free to add to this thread, please.
I used to put a boiler suit on for tipping/loading also get some rubber gauntlet gloves you will also need a safety helmet & safety glasses as most factory’s have gone h&s mad
I used to have a pair of safety boots that I just used for tipping and loading ,once I had finished I would put all my gear in a stacker box in the side locker out the way ,if you get allocated your own truck it’s worth getting some rubber mats for the floor ,you can wash them if you need to , all the places we loaded and unloaded at always had a hose pipe around the the area with boiling hot water
I currently tip sugar. It’s not too bad. Discharge on average takes around 50min. It’s not a dirty job but I put overalls on just so I don’t get grubby when setting up. It’s not sticky either. But lately there’s been an increase of wasps at unloading points due to the hot weather.
I don’t work for British sugar but my work is pretty much similar. Can be a lot of waiting around if silos don’t have enough space. Waited from 11.00am to 08.00am following day for room. But all driving jobs are usually waiting games. All in all it’s Ok. Gets you out of the cab instead of just opening container doors and sitting there.
If your company doesn’t supply wet weather gear then that’s something you will need or at least a good rain coat as you need to stay at the back of the tank while your unloading , just in case something goes wrong , like a discharge hose bursting
Like Bigfoot said wasps are a pest but in all the years I was doing it I never got stung ,
Mike-C:
hkloss1:
Can anyone let me know what work on sugar tankers is all about?
I’m after some general info and more precisely about working on British Sugar tankers.
Is it a dirty work, how long it takes to load and unload a tank, is there much waiting around to load or tip?
Anything you know, reallyThanks
It was a long time ago when i done it and i never discharged, only loaded and trunked. For either Tate&Lyle or Hoyer, out the same place, Silvertown in London. There seemed to be more powder tanks than liquid tanks, so in general waiting to load powder was longer. Tipping, although i never done it you never had to wait, just into the factory and discharge at the point.
Is it dirty work ? Well all the pipework is fastened along side the trailer, so yes you’d need overalls to grapple about with it and gloves, thats for discharging. Depends what your idea of "dirty work " is i suppose.
Loading is as easy as climbing the ladder and undoing the hatch. And on the powder tankers conecting up your hydraulic lines to lift the tank for loading.
I seem to remember something about steam lines for the liquid tankers in cold weather, can;t quite remember the detail.
And of course its all regular as clockwork boring mundane stuff !!
proberly know you i worked out off skelmersdale on the tate and lyle night trunk before it moved to lymm
right, never thought of bees and wasps, that’s another aspect of sugar tanker work to consider.
Do you need to wash your tank after every load, even if you transport the same product all the time?
Who does the tank washing, is it the driver or some specialized tank washing place?
nick172sport:
proberly know you i worked out off skelmersdale on the tate and lyle night trunk before it moved to lymm
Nick, i used to start nights at 6pm i forget the nightmen i ran with, although i do remember the two daymen i ran with Tommy from Manchester and a guy from Liverpool. When we started at 6pm, where you the guy who set off earlier than us about 3pm ? We where of course running of of Securicors yard.
on nights there was alan daveie owen dave and me on nights then swapped to days there was tommy price barry john and me i used to set off early on nights behind dave robbo
it was stevie price on days not tommy he was a roamer thats were i ended up roaming
I think i do remember you, have i got this right? Was it you that pulled out into lane 2 when a lorry in front slowed down and hit a stranded car ? Do you remember the incident ?
nick172sport:
it was stevie price on days not tommy he was a roamer thats were i ended up roaming
Steveie price, grey hair big buck teeth ? Tommy, dark hair, mustache ?
Mike-C:
I think i do remember you, have i got this right? Was it you that pulled out into lane 2 when a lorry in front slowed down and hit a stranded car ? Do you remember the incident ?
still do now on the m6 soouthbound
nick172sport:
Mike-C:
I think i do remember you, have i got this right? Was it you that pulled out into lane 2 when a lorry in front slowed down and hit a stranded car ? Do you remember the incident ?still do now on the m6 soouthbound
Yeah thats right. It was quite high pressure that night trunk, i was always stressed by it . What year would that of been Nick ? I always remember if i was a bit late and the others had set off before me i got the keys out the cabin and stood there like a ■■■■■■■■ asking passing securicor drivers if they where scared of wasps. Some looked at me like i was nuts and some took my keys and give the lorry a quick once round the yard for me to get the wasps off it 
Still of course grining at me like i was stupid