If you are a tank truck carrier, and are looking for some great load boards, you are in the right place.
As you no doubt already know, tank truckers operate in a highly specialized area and loads can be few and far between (at least when compared to other more common trailer types like dry vans, flatbeds, and the like).
So having multiple resources for finding loads is critical.
In this article, I am going to cover 5 load boards (well, the last one is a liquid bulk freight broker) you can use to find loads for your tank trucking business. They fall into two camps: (i) general load boards that still provide a respectable list of loads suitable for tank truck carriers and (ii) load boards that specialize in loads for tank truckers.
Between the two, you should be able to find some decent loads to help keep you on the road and making money.
We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get into it!
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The information contained in this post is for informational purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy or invest, and it is not financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. You should seek the advice of a qualified professional before making any investment or other decisions relating to the topics covered by this article.
1. DAT
When it comes to load boards, DAT is a clear market leader, with approximately 1.37 million loads posted daily (including plenty of tanker loads ).
They are admittedly known for their huge selection of loads for dry vans, reefers and flatbeds, but they also have a respectable offering of loads for tankers, including aluminum, intermodal and steel tankers.
To filter for these types of loads, you select “T” under “Truck Type.” Obviously, “T” stands for Tanker. If you want to further filter by the three different categories of tankers that DAT supports, you can sort by “TA”, “TN”, and “TS”, which stand for Tanker Aluminum, Tanker Intermodal and Tanker Steel, respectively.
Due to their immense size and scope, DAT can offer leading edge tech and info, including unlimited searching, instant alarm match notifications, broker credit scores, days to pay, market rates, mileage routing and much more.
Despite their dominant place in the market, I think their pricing is reasonable and it’s actually in line with other premium paid load boards. As of this writing, DAT offers the following plans:
- DAT TruckersEdge: Standard ($45/month) – includes unlimited truck posts and load searches, load match alarms, month to month billing, mileage and routing features, broker credit data and load counts by state.
- DAT TruckersEdge: Enhanced ($85/month) – includes all standard features plus the ability to call and search for loads (for when you are on the road), and average rates for lanes you are searching (30 day).
- DAT TruckersEdge: Professional ($135/month) – includes all Enhanced features plus average rates for past 15 days, access to Tri-Haul (which suggests higher paying routes with triangular route suggestions), DAT Assurance (which helps you collect past due accounts), and North American database (which includes Canadian loads)
There are higher tier plans available for companies with multiple trucks (Power Select Carrier) and multiple dispatchers (Power Office Carrier).
I have an affiliate relationship with DAT, so if you use my link, you will get access to a free 30 day trial for their plans.
In short, you will get to use this industry-leading load board for a full month for free. Please note that this trial offer is only for new subscribers.
As far as cancellations go, you have no long-term commitments, so you can cancel your subscription at any time.
Simply click on the banner below to take advantage of this no-risk offer.
2. Trucker Path
Shifting gears a bit, Trucker Path is a free load board that offers tanker loads.
Using their load board is simple. Just go on their website and search for loads (remember to check Tanker (T) under the “Trailer Type” drop down menu). You will need to click “Other” in the dropdown menu first to see the “Tanker (T)” option.
It is important to note that you get a limited number of searches per day, but can upgrade your account to a paid account and get more robust features, as well as access to the best loads.
Most of these loads needed an upgraded paid subscription for you to unlock them, so I think you should be prepared for that.
If you want to check them out, here is the link to their website.
3. Direct Freight
Direct Freight is a well-known general load board, which offers a permanent free option. Unlike many other free load boards (and believe me I looked), they do offer tanker loads.
Now to be fair, you will not get access to their premium loads (where many of the good tanker loads will be) unless you pay up, but if you are looking to save some money, their free option can be something you can add to your arsenal.
Their interface was easy to use. Just go to their website and click “Find Loads” at the top bar and chose “TNK (Tanker)” for the “Trailer Type”.
Of course, if you want to get access to a larger selection of loads, you will need to sign up for their paid subscription, which is $34.95 per month. However, when I checked their website at the time of writing, they were offering a 15 day free trial. Go to this page and click on “Create Free Account” to see more details.
4. Bulkloads.com
An interesting load board that seems to have a sizable number of tanker loads is bulkloads.com. As of the date of this article, they offer almost 1,900 pneumatic loads and over 700 liquid tanker loads.
They focus on grain loads, feed ingredient loads, fertilizer loads and the like, but as noted above, there are plenty of liquid tanker loads and other loads suitable for tanker truck operators.
You can sort for tanker loads by selecting “Tankers” under the “Trailers” drop down menu. You can filter even deeper by selecting “Tanker-Chemical”, “Tanker – Compressed Gas” and “Tanker-Liquid” in that same drop down menu.
Sing up is free, so give it a try.
5. Liquid Dispatch
This company is a little different from the other load boards in that they are not an actual load board.
They are a backhaul broker, specializing in the transport of tanks back to their point of origin after a delivery.
The way it works is that rather than having a load board to post their loads, they contact you when appropriate loads become available. You obviously need to sign up with them first (you will enter into a brief contract of service) to get access to these loads.
If you want to learn more about this option, check out their website here.
Conclusion
So there you have it – 5 great load boards (or load board alternatives) that you can explore to find more loads for your tank trucking business. Hope this has been helpful and happy trucking!
