chemicals companies

[truckballer]

Has anyone here ever pulled for Brentag, Unvar, or any other chemicals distributor?

I'm trying to figure out a few things
1) How much do they expect you to help with loading and unloading? How long does it take to do a typical truck or tanker?

2) What are the routes generally like?

3) Do they pay okay? Whats the worst part about working for them?

Thanks,
Mikey

[Skywalker]

First, if you are looking to get hired by one of the "actual" chemical manufacturers....you will more than likely have to show up and apply with a resume showing not less than 2 years....and possibly more experience driving a "chemical" tanker. The "in-house" drivers are quite often local and there is often a list of drivers who want those jobs. The pay is hard to know about, but I have never heard any of them complain. I do believe some are Teamsters...depending on the area of the country.

How much a driver would do regarding loading and unloading could be between 0% to 100%...depending on the company, and the chemicals handled. Loading could take 1 hour to 6 hours, depending on the nature of the product. Routes could be from just around the block to cross country.
Pay is probably as good, and most likely better than any other facet of local or OTR work.

Here's a link to a couple of those companies:

http://brenntagmid-south.com/brennta...ployment.shtml Brenntag is broken into regions. That one is "Mid-South" for them.

http://www.univarusa.com/vwr-inc/hrcareer.nsf/ibyFunction!OpenView&Start=1&Count=30&Expand=4#4
Univar posts a little more of a job description, but doesn't mention pay.

If you are not an experienced driver, you will want to follow a path to get the experience necessary to get hired by one of these companies. That path would likely be to get the CDL-A with Hazmat and Tanker endorsements....then either get hired by a tanker company that will take inexperienced drivers or pull a box for at least a year then move on to tankers. Some tank companies, be they chemical or food grade, require 2 years of experience.

Hope that helps.

[truckballer]

So when working for those companies, do you end up going to multiple locations or is there generally one endpoint?

[Skywalker]

So when working for those companies, do you end up going to multiple locations or is there generally one endpoint?

That would more than likely depend on whether you are OTR or local. Some of the jobs would be in daycabs, while others would be sleeper cabs. Some may be dedicated with daycabs and you sleep in motels. It will more than likely depend entirely on which company and what location as well as the position a driver was hired for.

Too many variables to set absolutes to. 8)

[johnny99]

I have deliverd to some of the Univar places when they were still Van, Waters, and Rogers. Most of the their drivers I talked to were real happy with their job. Above average pay and home every night, although some had a 4AM start time. They also had to work in the warehouse when not driving, pulling orders and loading trucks. Most of the freight was on pallets. but some of it had to be broke down. The tanker drivers had to do their own loading and unloading at the plant. It was a very "hands on" type of operation for the drivers.

[Orangetxguy]

Sky gave you plenty of good advise, TB. You can figure most all of the "In-house" trucks, are going to require you to have at least 2 years driving experience. Most will require you be at least 25 years old as well...if not 28.

Univar, at least in the Houston area, has loaders working in the facilities, whom load all out bound company trucks. The drivers are responsible for pretripping, seeing to getting the repairs done, if they are needed, and delivering the products on time. Van and flatbed loads are usually multiple drop loads, while tanker loads are decided by the type of tanker, the load is being delivered with. Most smooth-bore tankers are single delivery, unless the entire load is going to one specific customer, whom does not care about exact amounts being delivered to drop points. That sort of delivery is not common at all. With chemical tankers, multi-stop loads are usually done with a trailer that has 2, 3, or 4 compartments in it.

Brenntagg has several divisions in it's orginization. Most work under the Brenntagg name, except for Coastal Chemical, which uses that name, and has "Brenntagg" in small letters on the tractors and trailers.
Brenntagg hauls a large amount of "waste" loads.

Whether you were to hire on with either of these companies, or one of the other trucking companies operated by the "majors", except in gasoline delivery, you can expect to travel to various destinations during your scheduled work day. As a "local" driver you would be expected to do from 1 to 5 loads on any given day. There are several other fleets out there, that are operated by major petroleum and chemical companies.