[Fredog]

anyone know anyhting about Indain River transport? My brother is considering them

[Jackrabbit379]

Tanker company.(if the same one out of Florida) I see a lot of their trucks. My guess,they run a lot in the south/southwest. I dont know anything about the company,I just see a lot of their trucks on US HWY 82.

[Useless]

IIRC, the Indian River tankers that I used to see hauled food grade product. If my understanding is correct, that means that the tankers would not have baffles inside of them; thus, more skill is required to operate them safely, and the element of risk is also higher.

Now, bear in mind that I've never yanked a tank before, so I could be completely wrong here.

I used to see them up in the mid-west, but I don't recall seeing them down here in South Texas. ...not necessarily to say that they are not here, just don't recall seeing them!!

Anyway, BOL2URBROTHER!!

[Walking Eagle]

All their drivers I have talked to say it it is good. They run mainly a triangle, Fl. to S. Ca. to Wi then back to Fl. All their equipt. look good and late model.

[Skywalker]

Do a search here on CAD using Indian River as the searchwords, also read Cyanides "tanker" thread.... you will find information on them.

Your brother, if he has enough experience would do better to get on with a chemical tanker company than food grade..... Cyanide's thread explains many of the reasons why. He drover for IR, later Artmann, and now both of us drive for Superior Carriers (Chemical). If he has any particular questions, feel free to PM me.

[Fredog]

Originally Posted by Skywalker

Do a search here on CAD using Indian River as the searchwords, also read Cyanides "tanker" thread.... you will find information on them.

Your brother, if he has enough experience would do better to get on with a chemical tanker company than food grade..... Cyanide's thread explains many of the reasons why. He drover for IR, later Artmann, and now both of us drive for Superior Carriers (Chemical). If he has any particular questions, feel free to PM me.

I agree about chemicals. I currently haul sulfuric acid and I like it, my brother doesnt want to haul chemicals. i looke dup Indian river on safer web and I wasnt impressed. 57 wrecks in the lat 24 months, 4 of them fatal.

[Bumper]

IIRC, they used to have a bad rep for wanting you to maintain two sets of log books......run run run.

[Skywalker]

If your brother wants to haul food grade and stay away from chemicals, he might want to look into "Carry Transit". They are the food grade division of Superior's parent company Superior Bulk Logistics. They pay better than the rest of the food grade carriers, and they have a number of terminals around the country.

It would be worth a look, and I can tell you that Carry Transit has an extremely low turn-over rate. You can find info about them on Cyanide's Tanker info thread...at least pay and benefit wise.

[Cyanide]

Tell him to steer clear unless he wants to get screwed over, because eventually it will happen sooner or later. The same goes for the Florida Jim Aartman terminal and their operations. If he wants to run "easy" food grade where all he's doing is driving AND be with a somewhat safe company, I'd strongly suggest he run for Jim Aartman out of the Ripon, CA yard (H.Q.) or Caledonia.

If he wants to run a normal food grade tanker where he'll perform unloading like we do in chemical tanks and be paid for it, I suggest Carry Transit or L.C.L. Transport.

Indian River has a very good track record of firing operations personnel to supposedly "clean up" their outlaw image, yet also have a habit of firing the safety direector when he takes positive action to get them right with the D.O.T., resulting in a loss of profits to the owner since the screws begin tightening on the drivers there who average a minimum of 3,500 plus miles a week, every week. Another trend is to sit the drivers who insist on running legal, and who refuse to do dispatch favors by covering loads that should have been picked up much earlier and usually with more time necessary to make a legal, safe delivery. There's so much more bad to say about them than good, but anyone who's reading this can figure out where this goes! There's not many drivers who will stay with and retire from Indian River, unless they're one of the drivers who've been over there from the beginning.

In a nutshell aside from my novel here, stay away...

Oh, on a side note, the turnover here at Superior and over at Carry is around 35% each, with the majority of it attributed to drivers who simply cannot adapt to driving and handling a tanker. It's not for everyone :wink:...

Originally Posted by Cyanide

Oh, on a side note, the turnover here at Superior and over at Carry is around 35% each, with the majority of it attributed to drivers who simply cannot adapt to driving and handling a tanker. It's not for everyone :wink:...

35% churn rate? That's incredible in this day and age when most drivers come and goes like the wind. Looks like you've found a winner there, driver.

Amazing what happens when drivers are treated right and paid a good wage for all their efforts on the job! That's why there's no driver shortage. It's really a lack of quality companies who value their workforce.