Oil tanker driver tells story: taking county roads saves highway fees and earns 8000 to 9000 yuan per month
In recent days, a news about oil tankers mixing edible oil has been frequently on the hot list.
Multiple enterprises such as China National Grain Reserves Corporation and Huifu have responded and conducted in-depth investigations. On July 9th, the State Council Food Safety Office stated that it attaches great importance to the problem of "disorderly transportation of edible oil by tank trucks" and organized multiple departments to hold a special meeting to study and establish a joint investigation team to thoroughly investigate the relevant issues in the transportation of edible oil by tank trucks. The investigation and disposal results will be promptly announced.
The two types of tank materials used for transporting dangerous goods and ordinary goods are not the same, because dangerous goods are prone to leakage, and there are corresponding devices inside the tank with high anti-static requirements, while the requirements for transporting ordinary goods are not many. The phenomenon of mixed loading of oil tankers this time mainly involves the transportation of general cargo tankers.
Jiupai News contacted two oil tanker drivers and a related employee. Some drivers have expressed that the transportation industry is a mix of good and bad, with few tank washing centers and high costs. Some people were also shocked and said that the transportation process should be carried out by dedicated vehicles, and chemical and edible oils should never be mixed.
【1】 I will try my best to take the county road when possible
Potato Brother (pseudonym), a 50 year old oil tanker driver from Liaoning
I have been driving oil tankers for about 15 years. At that time, I didn't have a degree and wanted to learn some skills. Coincidentally, my family also drives large cars, and we have an oil field in Panjin where we all pull oil. So, I drove an oil tanker truck.
I have driven dangerous goods vehicles, which can carry diesel and gasoline, as well as regular trucks, which can carry lubricating oil, soybean oil, and soybean oil residue (a byproduct of the hydrolysis and delamination of soybean oil during the refining process).
When transporting dangerous goods, anti-static work clothes, gloves, and safety helmets must be worn during loading and unloading. The vehicle must also be equipped with two 8kg fire extinguishers and two fixed anti-static towing belts. Sometimes it is necessary to wear a protective face or even a gas mask when filling oil, but not for filling soybean oil. Be careful not to smoke and there should be no ignition source.
Potato Brother drives an oil tanker truck. Image/Provided by interviewee
According to standards, chemical oil and edible oil cannot be packed in one can. Dangerous goods vehicles are used to transport industrial supplies, and even if they transport general goods, they are not qualified. However, in the industry, there is often a mix of good and bad goods.
Usually, the transportation is a car hired by the buyer of the oil. When you come to transport the oil, the manufacturer will first keep a sample and seal it, and the buyer will conduct further testing after receiving it.
Nowadays, in many places, steaming tanks (used to steam chemical storage tanks) cannot steam, and washing tanks cannot wash them either. Due to the high pollution caused by the cleaned wastewater and the high cost of treating sewage, there are few companies that do tank cleaning.
The can washing center may not necessarily be located at the place where the cans are loaded. It may be several hundred miles away and the cans must be empty. The transportation cost is several hundred yuan, and the cleaning fee is 500 yuan. Basically, the money earned from a trip is not much left.
I also pulled soybean oil feet, a can of 30 tons. Some businesses will purchase soybean oil residue for cosmetics. Adding 4 tons of sulfuric acid to 30 tons of soybean oil residue will turn the originally burnt yellow soybean oil residue into a bright red soybean oil. Some people are allergic to cosmetics because they contain too much sulfur. Some detergents and dishwashers actually contain sulfuric acid.
The transportation industry is currently in a downturn, and I only earn around 10000 yuan per month for driving and transporting people. The main costs are fuel and highway fees. I try my best to take the county road when possible, but there are places where fines are particularly high. We have a group where everyone knows which county has a higher fine, so we are determined not to go there. I was once fined 20000 yuan for overloading, which was equivalent to a month of wasted work.
But driving a big car is not without happy moments, and the driver of the big car takes it as a free trip when he goes out. I prefer the route of Daxing'anling, especially after rain, when white clouds float back and forth in front of the rearview mirror, like a fairyland.
【2】 Mixing diesel and gasoline within 5% is fine
Mr. Li (pseudonym), 36 year old leader of Yunnan oil tanker truck fleet
I have an auto repair shop and six or seven oil tankers, mainly for transporting diesel. Usually, I mainly hire drivers to transport goods, and occasionally I also drive.
I have heard the recent news and find it a bit unbelievable. We have people checking every time we leave the factory, and we need to make electronic waybills. If the vehicle transporting industrial oil contains edible oil, it cannot be driven out. The oil tankers for general cargo and dangerous goods are relatively similar in appearance, but the oil tankers for transporting dangerous goods have special markings. Anyway, we are all dedicated cars.
We specialize in transporting diesel and occasionally gasoline, so we don't usually need to clean the oil tanks. Diesel and gasoline do not stick to the wall, just clean them up at the suction port. Mixing diesel within 5% of gasoline is within the safe range.
In recent years, the oil tanker transportation business has become increasingly difficult to do. I currently have three or four parked cars, and even if I can receive orders, I won't make much money. I plan to sell the cars when the price is right. The car has been running for five or six years, and it can be sold for tens of thousands of yuan based on the price of scrap metal.
The cross contamination case of tanker transportation was exposed 19 years ago. The image is a data chart
Nowadays, there are very few new oil tankers running on the road. In the past, many people bought new cars for eight to nine hundred thousand yuan each, and they had to rely on connections to register, which shows that this industry is easy to do. Nowadays, many big bosses are in debt, and our small company can barely maintain it.
We have cooperated with PetroChina, Sinopec, and some small companies, but our relationships are not very long-term. Three months ago, we cooperated with a company in Changdu, Xizang, to transport diesel from Sichuan, three or four times a month, eight or nine days a round trip, full or empty, and I followed them twice.
The worst thing for long-distance transportation is the bad road conditions. It is more than 1000 kilometers from Sichuan to Xizang, and it is difficult to walk through the plateau. The mountain roads are winding. At the end of June, we encountered a mudslide on the road. A small car was driving in the opposite direction and was hit by a stone in front of us. There were many cars blocked behind us. We cleared the stones off the road and drove over quickly, not daring to stop.
Sometimes we encounter drivers who lack quality. Large cars are already heavier than small cars. If we get stuck on an uphill, we start slowly and the cars behind us suddenly overtake us, making us unable to move. Sometimes we may encounter people walking to worship or cycling, and they don't hide even when they see a car, taking up half of the road.
We all travel overnight, almost non-stop. Two drivers in one shift, driving in different directions. The regulation is that if you drive continuously for four hours, you must stop and rest for 20 minutes. From 2 am to 5 am, if you drive for two hours, you must rest for 20 minutes. Sometimes on mountain roads, all the parking spots are full and we can only continue driving forward. If caught by traffic police and fined, we explain the situation to them.
I am 36 years old and have four children. The oldest is 11 years old and the youngest is starting first grade. I usually don't follow the car and only run along when the road is difficult to walk on. Walking towards the plateau, sometimes I feel chest tightness and cough. We bring oxygen tanks, which can be used to some extent.
A while ago, the car broke down on the road and cost 30000 to 40000 yuan to repair. The cooperating company also had to lower the price. The originally agreed transportation fee of 800 yuan per ton had to be reduced to 650 yuan, but the profit was not much. I definitely cannot accept this price.
【3】 Reduced shipping costs, not washing cans can save costs
Mr. Feng, a 33 year old manager of a dangerous goods transportation company in Xiamen
I previously drove a truck for a period of time and joined an oil tanker transportation company in 2021. Currently, I mainly manage the daily driving tasks of more than 50 drivers. The transportation media of the company, diesel and gasoline, belong to the third category of dangerous goods. We will never pull edible oil, which belongs to cross media and is illegal.
The oil tankers reported in the news belong to general cargo, they mainly transport kerosene, while we transport dangerous goods. The materials of the two types of car cans are different because dangerous goods are easily leaked, and there are corresponding devices inside the cans. I also find it unbelievable to see the tanker truck carrying Lapu cargo carrying edible oil without cleaning the kerosene.
The oil tanker managed by Mr. Feng's company. Image/Provided by interviewee
99% of our company's cars run on diesel, while the rest run on gasoline. The recruited drivers must have a dangerous goods work permit and corresponding vehicle type driving license, and are required to have not had any major traffic accidents within 3 years, and must not have a record of drunk driving or drug driving. More than 50 drivers in the company have an average age of over 30, and there are many young people entering this industry, earning around 8000 to 9000 yuan per month.
The company's transportation range is concentrated around Xiamen, and the farthest distance is not beyond the province, with only two to three hundred kilometers per trip. Because it is a dangerous goods transportation, nothing can be mixed into the tank. We would rather come back empty than pull any other medium. Our oil tanker truck is rarely cleaned because it basically uses the same type of oil. If we finish pulling diesel and then go to pull gasoline, we can directly load it by draining the diesel from the loading port, which has minimal impact on the oil.
The management of drivers is also quite strict. The biggest fear of dangerous goods is spontaneous combustion. When we load and unload oil in the oil depot, we are not allowed to smoke or make phone calls. When filling, we cannot fill it out, and we also need to pay attention to whether there is air discharged inside. If the operation is improper and the air valve is not opened, the pressure will increase during tank loading, which may easily cause the tank to explode. During transportation, a driver should be accompanied by an escort to ensure the safety of the vehicle.
There is a positioning system in the car that can detect the driver's working hours. If the driver drives continuously for more than 4 hours, the company's system will prompt the driver to drive fatigue. If the driver runs for more than 12 hours that day, we will inform them to rest as soon as possible.
Vehicles transporting dangerous goods need to be affiliated with companies with transportation qualifications in order to be on the road. The system is strict, and our company's oil tank trucks are all owned by the company. Drivers have a fixed monthly income, while the management of general cargo oil tank trucks is not so strict.
In recent years, freight rates have decreased significantly in various regions. The general cargo driver, after pulling kerosene without cleaning, goes to pull cooking oil just to save some money on washing cans. If the shipping cost is too low, the driver cannot bear it. He has to refuel on the road, pay highway fees, and various expenses. If the shipping cost per trip drops significantly, not washing the cans can save some costs.
