Basin-area trucking firms face a shortage of trained drivers. Like, 3,000 drivers.
“We noticed, with this [recent] downturn, that a lot of the drivers that left—they haven’t come back,” said Endeavor Energy Services’ Trucking Division General Manager Patrick Martinez.
By Paul Wiseman
“We noticed, with this [recent] downturn, that a lot of the drivers that left—they haven’t come back,” said Endeavor Energy Services’ Trucking Division General Manager Patrick Martinez.
To be sure, Endeavor Energy Services did not actually lay off any drivers over the 2014-2016 downturn, but during that time they saw a flood of applicants who had been laid off by other companies. Now that the company is expanding—needing a total of about 10 more drivers—that flood has dried up almost completely.
ESS, which is wholly owned and operated by Endeavor Energy, doing about 98 percent of their work for the parent company, operates 22 vacuum trucks, five kill trucks, and seven hot oilers.
It’s no different for “last mile” frac sand haulers. Ben Kail, partner and COO of Tegra Excel Energy Services, says his company needs about 40 additional drivers to get to the 180 count they need. Tegra has three locations, including one in Odessa that does about 80 percent of the company’s business.
In recent months, the Permian Basin Workforce Board has estimated the overall driver shortage in the Basin at around 3,000—and growing.
So, training about 15 drivers every four weeks may not sound like much help, but Midland College’s Director of Transportation Training, Bryan Aldridge, is pleased to be doing everything he can to train new CDL drivers on road safety and courtesy.
He is particularly happy that the Midland Development Corporation (MDC), which handles the money collected by Midland County’s extra quarter-cent Type A sales tax, is investing almost a half-million dollars to expand MC’s program.
“This money is very welcome,” he said. “It will allow us to buy two tractors at about $130,000 each and to hire two new instructors,” bringing the school’s total to five. Each instructor can train three students at a time over the 4-week training period.
“It will also allow us to become a DPS testing facility so we can speed the process of getting CDL tests done.” Not every DPS office does CDL tests, so the ones that do offer them suffer from backlogs that stretch out for 5-6 weeks.
There will also be money from the MDC for advertising and for additional equipment.
Aldridge says CDL students mostly come from the immediate area, but some come from as far away as Burma. Ages range from recent high school graduates to people in their fifties. His oldest student so far has been 78.
Perhaps it is not a surprise, in light of Patrick Martinez’s statement, that not every graduate signs up with an oil company. Many are interested in long haul jobs that do not depend on the ups and downs of oil prices.
Endeavor Energy Services recently donated a trailer to the program in hopes that the trailer would help student drivers learn more about Endeavor’s needs—and sign up with them upon passing their test.
While it hasn’t worked out exactly as planned—Endeavor has only signed up a handful of MC graduates—the two graduates currently working for them are among their best drivers. Above all, the company was happy to help the community “and help them get drivers in,” Martinez said.
Aldridge adds that his program is successful because of participation from community members like Endeavor, the MDC, and the faculty. “I really appreciate the community support for this program.”
Getting drivers is one thing—getting qualified drivers is much harder, says Kail. He’s talking about “guys that have like two years’-plus experience driving experience.” The reason for that need is not just Kail’s preference—he says his insurance company won’t underwrite anyone without that much experience.
In about four years in business, Tegra Excel has already weathered a bust—they opened their doors in 2014. Since the turnaround in 2017 they’ve seen a major drop in what their clients are willing to pay per mile.
When they started, they were receiving as much as $950 for a 0-50 mile trip, a typical distance for last mile haulers. “Right now, I’d say, for 0-50 we’re in the $550 range.” Even that is better than it was for a while. “When we hit that bottom, we were getting $375 for 0-50.”
Electronic tracking issues
Federal regulations currently being implemented require the installation of a logging device that tracks the hours a truck is in service each day. The idea is to replace paper logs, which were easily manipulated to allow drivers to work longer than the mandated 14 hour day—only 11 of which could be spent driving.
Kail, while favoring safe driving rules, says the electronic logging system still has holes. “You have guys that will do a load, get to the location, and theoretically, they can be sitting in the truck sleeping, and it’s counting toward their drive time. [I wish] there was a way it could go on and off as you get to the location—because, it isn’t going to be like clockwork. You’re going to get to the location and have to usually wait a couple of hours, then you offload.”
The bottom line for Kail is that the limitations create staffing challenges. “It’s making it a lot harder because we’re having to put a lot more trucks on a well to cover the same amount of work because of that.”
Endeavor uses a team of former DPS troopers to monitor their trucking workforce on compliance issues. “They actually monitor us and help us keep an eye on our logs and take care of the things we’re supposed to,” Martinez says.
“We’re held to a very high standard when it comes to DOT. That’s why we don’t get some of the drivers that outside companies have—because we do monitor, because we do make sure they’re within their time.”
Creating further hiring challenges is the fact that Endeavor drivers don’t just drive—once at the site they provide hot oiling, vacuum truck services, and more.
One company’s creative solution
While they are not themselves a trucking company, Midland-based Buchanan Disposal Solutions has worked with trucks that haul produced water for disposal for years. The company’s Director of Business Development, Zack Bilbry, says they’ve recently opened what they call a one-stop shop for disposal trucks that could greatly reduce the time spent sitting in trucks.
Bilbrey points out that most disposal trucks must make several separate stops to dump their water, then solids, followed by washing out the tank, and finally a stop to refill with fresh water or 10 lb. brine for the return trip. “Sometimes they can wait in line for hours at any one of these stops.”
This spring Buchanan opened a one-stop location in Greenwood that combines all these aspects—including lunch for the driver—into one 45-minute turnaround. It’s the first of four planned terminals across the Permian Basin.
“Each fully automated location will have IOC scanners that will read a sticker on the truck” that identifies the company. Then the system will use a suction pump to remove the produced water, drill cuttings, or other contents. The facility is located on a company-owned 122-acre landfill that will accept the solids.
Gamma jets will then wash out the tank’s interior and highly-trained technicians will do the same for the outside. After a final inspection that includes DOT-mandated checks comes the final rinse.
From there the tank can be refilled with fresh water or 10 lb. brine.
The current facility has two lines, with addition of four more in the planning stages. Other locations are planned for Odessa, Pecos, Ackerly, and Big Lake.
“This will cut several hours off of each trip,” Bilbrey says. “Typically, we can have a truck in and out, the driver fed and rested and the tank topped off in 45-50 minutes. This will shave hours off their time.”
Permian Basin trucking firms share two main universals—a driver shortage and an emphasis on safety. Endeavor’s Martinez says he uses the same cautionary phrase at home that he uses with his drivers: “Be careful, be safe. Watch the idiots and don’t be an idiot.” He adds, “It’s not always you making the mistake, but you have to watch for other people making mistakes.”
Paul Wiseman is a freelance writer in Midland.