In this inaugural episode of Chemical Reactions, host Alex Steakely welcomes Jason McDaniel from Bulk Transporter to discuss the current landscape of the chemical transport industry. Listen in as they touch on the challenges and opportunities in tank trucking, the impact of technology, the importance of fostering new talent in the sector, and insights on industry trends, making it a must-listen for professionals in the chemical and trucking fields.
Main Topics Discussed
Introduction to Jason McDaniel and his background in bulk transportation journalism.
Current state of the chemical transport industry post-COVID.
Resilience of the tank truck sector compared to other trucking segments.
Innovations in the industry, including smart trailer technology and improved safety measures.
The influence of tariffs and economic uncertainties on transportation logistics.
Discussion of driver shortages and the importance of attracting younger talent to the industry.
Future outlook for chemical transport and emerging practices in trailer leasing.
Key Insights
Resilience of the Tank Truck Sector: Despite economic challenges, the chemical transport market is expected to fare better due to the continual need for essential goods such as fuel and chemicals (00:11:00).
Importance of Technology: New technologies such as the Airbox One communication system and the SafeHeat system for heated products showcase advancements aimed at improving safety and efficiency (00:19:00, 00:20:33).
Driver Recruitment: Efforts to attract younger drivers are crucial, with campaigns targeting younger generations to embrace the rewarding opportunities within the tank truck industry (00:49:08).
Impact of Tariffs: The ongoing shift in tariffs is expected to create new lanes for U.S. manufacturers, potentially boosting the demand for chemical transport services (00:15:25).
Notable Quotes
"It's about building relationships… The people in this industry are great." – Jason McDaniel (00:52:20).
“The tank truck sector has a much lower turnover than general trucking, and the pay is traditionally better.” – Jason McDaniel (00:50:05).
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast
00:22 - Alex welcomes Jason McDaniel
03:43 - Jason discusses his background and role at Bulk Transporter
10:13 - Analysis of current industry challenges
19:09 - Innovations in trailer technology
27:03 - Conversations around tariffs and economic uncertainty
If you enjoyed the discussion, please subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review. Stay connected with us for future episodes featuring insights from the chemical transport industry! Follow Jason McDaniel on LinkedIn and connect with Alex Steakely for more engaging conversations.
Transcripts
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[00:00:22] Alex Steakley: Hey, guys. Welcome back to Chemical Reactions, the podcast about the chemical transport world and the people in it. Today, I've got Jason McDaniel from Bulk Transporter. If you've been around LinkedIn at all, if you're in the chemical transport space, I'm sure you've seen this guy posting on NTTC all over the place. So to have you, Jason.
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[00:00:53] Alex Steakley: First one, best one. Right? I mean, who better to have on than the guy that's in the know in chemical transport?
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[00:01:01] Alex Steakley: Yeah. Yeah. Awesome, man. Well, like I said, good to have you on. And just give me a little background about you, man. I know you've been writing for Bulk Transporter for a while. How'd you kinda get into that?
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[00:02:47] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:02:49] Alex Steakley: One man band.
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[00:03:22] Alex Steakley: Yeah. It's interesting. You know, chemical transport is such a a niche market. Right? Mhmm. And you coming from sports, did you have a a background in in chemical transport? Did somebody you know?
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[00:03:39] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:03:54] Alex Steakley: Oh, yeah.
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[00:04:23] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:04:29] Alex Steakley: I noticed too on on your LinkedIn, you write for refrigerated transport as well. Would you say there's a lot of similarities between the two, or do you think that, you know, one community is a little more tight knit than the other?
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[00:05:49] Alex Steakley: So Yeah.
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[00:05:58] Alex Steakley: Yeah. I know the the bare minimum about reefer transportation. My dad's got a produce. Works for a produce company, shown him in produce. So grew up working in the warehouses over there, saw that, but, they're both they're both specialized. I I think chemical even more so than reefer with with everything that you've gotta go through, DOT, tank washes, all that stuff. I mean, it one wrong move. Like you said, insurance is sky high for a reason in Mhmm. In bulk transport.
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[00:06:38] Alex Steakley: And then your sports writing background, man. Any any cool stories?
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[00:06:58] Alex Steakley: So all sports across the board, baseball, football, football.
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[00:07:04] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:07:07] Alex Steakley: Oh, man. That's awesome.
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[00:07:54] Alex Steakley: So like I was telling you off air, I I referred to you as the Adam Schefter of the liquid bulk transporter space. But if everybody's willing to talk to you, you don't need any special sources or unnamed sources. It's pretty pretty wide open, and everybody's pretty transparent.
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[00:08:40] Alex Steakley: Yeah. No. No. No. Yeah.
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[00:08:52] Alex Steakley: I mean, maybe if the podcast space doesn't work out, we start a first take for, liquid bulk transport, and we, we just argue about different transporters.
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[00:09:04] Alex Steakley: Okay. Well, let's jump into a little bit more, you know, serious topics about where the transport space has been and where it's headed. Obviously, chemical transport companies had a big boom kind of coming off that COVID space.
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[00:09:20] Alex Steakley: It's since kind of been a a little bit of a roller coaster. You know, I I think you're really equipped to talk about it. Where do you see kind of the state of the industry right now? Any kind of you know, I know we're still seeing depressed rates, rates per mile across the board. It's not what it was during COVID, which, you know, those were outliers anyway. But, anything that you're seeing in the space that some headwinds that were hitting or, different challenges that a lot of people are talking about?
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[00:11:12] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:11:36] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:11:46] Alex Steakley: No. I thought Peterbilt just rolled out some some EVs.
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[00:12:27] Alex Steakley: Yeah. Especially with the the infrastructure. I mean, right now, you can pretty much go straight shot to your deliveries. If they had to time out where they're stopping and kinda going out of the way, you're just talking about extra cost being passed on to the the consignee.
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[00:13:06] Alex Steakley: That's true.
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[00:13:10] Alex Steakley: Yeah. Yeah. Because we haven't seen it. Yeah. Haven't even thought about that. We've been I've just been thinking about the the cost side of it. But, yeah, I mean, if they're not even allowed to pull in there, then you might have to talk to every producer and change the way that they're loading and change their loading racks.
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[00:13:43] Alex Steakley: And how long that's gonna take? I mean, I know some friends that have electric vehicles for their personal vehicle. And if they don't charge it at home and they've gotta sit at a gas station or whatever that has those power chargers, if they're not a fast bank, it's two hours.
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[00:14:20] Alex Steakley: Yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, we've gone through it, and we've we've seen kind of a a shift, but another headwind is obviously tariffs. Mhmm. What have you been hearing about kind of that market? Obviously, before, we were doom and gloom with 145% on China, and everybody was up in the sixties and seventies, and now we've kinda tampered expectations. Everybody's playing nice together. What what are you seeing on that end?
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[00:16:37] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:17:01] Alex Steakley: Yeah. 100%.
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[00:17:13] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:17:28] Alex Steakley: Yeah.
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[00:17:30] Alex Steakley: Yeah. 100%. You know, just on touching on you touched on raw materials with tariffs. A lot of our customer base is we've got two two big ones. It's liquid transport companies and chemical manufacturers. And talking to both of them just in candid conversations, they thought that maybe it would open up new lanes for them because of raw material production coming back stateside. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I I think there's definitely some positive optimism, cautious optimism, but, yeah, wait and see is probably the the way to think
