Houston….we have a problem.
Posted on Dec 15, 2007 - 10:52am by Everitt Mickey in Trucking
I showed up at the City Docks in Houston all ready to load and roll. I’d been sitting idle too long and I was ready to romp and stomp.
And what do I find?
This kinda took the wind out of my sails. It seems that some clerk somewhere is numerically challenged. The load info I had said that the piece I was supposed to pick up was (about) 38 ft long, 13 foot tall and 8 foot wide. I wasn’t particularly happy about the 13 high part since that would put it at 15 high on my trailer, but I’ve done it before. High load’s are part of what I do.
But what do I get? Now at first glance it’s not so bad. They got the 38 long part right. But no way is that fifteen high. So I get out my handy measuring apparatus and check. Nope….it’s 13 alright.. 13 on the TRAILER. (actually 13ft 6 in…but let’s don’t quibble….it’s legal height) Now this is a GOOD thing. Being over height is the most difficult part of oversize….the higher the MORE difficult. Fifteen wouldn’t have been bad but it probably would have increased my trip length substantially. (why I remember this one load………..<never mind>)
So, I’m happy…..right?
Uh…no.
It’s somewhat wider than 8ft. It’s actually 12 ft. 6 in. This is not too bad but it complicates things. For one I’m going to require an escort in Oklahoma. But what’s got me bothered is that the load doesn’t set right on the trailer. The legs of the piece hang way out over the side. Is it going to be damaged riding on the cross braces? Last thing I need is a cargo insurance claim.
So I call dispatch. “Ooooopss” they say. “call you right back”.
And they do…and I get the go-ahead to load. Ok…now how to chain this thing down.
It took me several hours. Several times I’d chain…look at it a bit..scratch various parts of my anatomy….and unchain it and redo. Didn’t matter how long it took. I’ve found that it’s a lot easier to do it RIGHT in the shippers yard than to try and FIX it on the side of the road somewhere. (been there….done that….got the scar) So I worked on it till after dark…then got up early and worked on it some more the next morning. (couldn’t leave till after 9 a.m…oversize curfew in Houston)
This is what I come up with. It musta worked cause I’m at the curfew line going into Ft. Worth and nothing has budged.
First thing….I don’t want to squish something underneath. So I sit it on blocks.
Front…..
and rear…..
Now you might think that I have all the time I need to figure this out? Nope. This is on a DOCK. It’s being loaded by Longshoremen. These guys have NO patience. It makes no never mind to them that the load was supposed to be ready to go at Ten AM and it’s now Four PM….nope….I get about thirty seconds to decide what needs to be done then they set it on the trailer…..ready or not.
It’s on the trailer…..then…it’s my baby. Now to see that the baby survives transit.
First thing is to make darn well sure it doesn’t move. Since it’s on blocks this is important. I really, really DON’T want it to fall off the blocks. So I do THIS about four times…
(two on each side)
….and then for the rear.
These chains are rated at eleven thousand pounds working load limit. The piece only weighs 4500 so I’ve got a lot more chain strength than I need.
Oh wait…that’s KiloWhatzits. …not pounds.
See the little “gotcha’s” I run into?
Not to worry. If I misrecollect a kilogram is about 2.2046226218 pounds. (give or take) So this piece weighs about 9, 920.8017981 lbs. Call it ten thousand. Since I have about Sixty thousand pounds of chain strength…or even 30,000 taking the goofy “indirect” directive into account I should be ok on that score. (or even 25,000 if the “slack in the middle doesn’t make it two chains” routine that some states claim)
More than enough chains no matter how you look at it.
So I’m chained down..right?
Not as far as I’m concerned. I’m worried about the blocks. The dunnage. The lumber. If it shifts I’m up a creek.
So….I do what any heavy-hauler does….I chain it TWO….front…
and rear.
all I gotta do now is Flag and Rag and I’m ready to roll.and I did.
Ought to deliver tomorrow if Oklahoma has thawed out.
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You’re a better man than me, I think I’d have just spontaneously combusted while trying to tie down a load like that…. (shivers…) ;_
Thank you for the compliment.
Actually I’ve had much worse loads. The VERY worst loads I’ve EVER had were legal…that is…not overdimensional. Plastic pipe comes to mind.
Also Tarped loads….
Tarp is a four-letter word.
This is insane, so does the shipper take any responsibility for securing the cargo that they mis-measured? I don’t understand how there is so little accountability with the shipper.
I agree with your sentiment and in a perfect world…………….
…….however….we don’t LIVE in a perfect world.
Two things
First. This was an overseas shipment…inbound. I can only imagine how many “hands” this went thru and how many languages. The possibility for mistakes were huge.
Second. The trucker is always wrong. Even when he’s right he’s wrong. Wrong for pointing out the error. We should be good little truckies and “run with it” no matter what? You’d think that from listening to the shipper….and in some cases, dispatch.
For example. In the last week I’ve heard of at least four cases where the truck showed up to load. Couldn’t. The load was too Heavy. Not a little too heavy….a lot. My buddie the Ragin’ Cajun went to pick up a 30,000 lb load that turned out to be 56,000. I’ve heard of Several sixties that were eighties….a couple of seventies that were nineties.
It seems that everything got heavier this month.
An no….they didn’t “run with it”…most of ‘em.
Now if that would of been me, with my Luck, it would have rolled off the trailer the 1st curve I went into, and rolled over on its top or side. Glad you were doing it and not me !!! What a deal !!!!!!
Thank you for the lesson.