Chasing the Edge
by Kimberly J. Schwartz
March 1, 2010
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Sooner Heavy Hauling’s fleet includes a 55-ton XL paver shown here hauling a 92,000-lb Liebherr LR1250.
An Oklahoma hauling company pushes the limits with its fleet of tough trailers.
Jeff Henning is obsessed with how to transport equipment and freight. As the owner of Sooner Heavy Hauling in Claremore, Oklahoma, Henning is always trying to figure out how to move loads more quickly and efficiently. “I’m always scheming on something to try to get an edge on everybody else,” he says. “Everybody’s got the same equipment, so I want a lighter trailer or another edge. You only have an edge for so long before somebody copies it.”
Jeff Henning, owner of Sooner Heavy Hauling, admits that he pushes the threshold of trailer capacity. His 13-axle Kayln Siebert and 10-axle Trail King trailers have hauled loads ranging from a 130,000-pound compressor skid to a 147,000-pound feedwater heater.
But, he says, “The trucks are the easy part. You can buy two or three trucks for what one trailer costs. Trailers are the difficult part.” Despite the cost, Henning has been able to expand his trailer fleet. “I have two XL trailers and two Etnyre trailers, one of which is a custom-built 13-axle. I have two Trail Kings, one of which is a 10-axle. I have five Transcraft trailers—three steps and two flats—and one Doonan stepdeck. And last but not least, my Kalyn Siebert 13-axle.”
Henning says the variety in his trailer fleet is due to the fact that each manufacturer excels at building a particular type of trailer. He adds that he also works with dealers who provide strong customer support: Highway Trailer Sales in Kansas City, Missouri, and Blackwell Truck and Trailer in Daingerfield, Texas.
Henning says that his crew’s favorite trailer is probably the XL lowboy. It’s a 55-ton paver rated for 110,000 pounds that is set up to run a 3+1 configuration. “It’s so well-built that if there was a weak link in it we would have found it by now,” he says.
He’s owned the trailer for a little more than two years and says it leaves the yard almost every day. Being able to depend on this workhorse of a trailer has freed Henning of some anxiety. “We have had other trailers in the past [that have had] stress areas where every few months we’d have to bring [them] in the shop. The only thing we’ve repaired on [the XL paver] in over two years was a hydraulic hose and a set of tires.”
On a recent project, Sooner Heavy Hauling was contracted to move equipment to a windmill site in Oklahoma. “All the approaches were real narrow and mud was packed between the tires,” Henning says.
His XL paver has proven it can handle hauling the rough terrain cranes, and now has almost 200,000 miles on it. “For the environment a lowboy works in, that’s pretty impressive,” Henning says. “It’s one thing when you don’t load them to capacity, but we tend to push the threshold of trailer capacity. It earns its keep.”
Expanding Capacity
Henning is hoping for the best in 2010 although he thinks that a big upswing in the economy won’t be coming soon. But he’s always on the lookout for new jobs, and he has a progressive approach to business. If a project is worth his while, he’ll invest in the equipment that he needs to get the job done.
That’s how he got into 13-axles, which Henning says indicate that his company has a greater level of hauling expertise. “When you grow to the point that you have 13-axles, it kind of separates you from the rest of the heavy haul industry,” he says. “A 9- or 10-axle is pretty inexpensive compared to a 13-axle.”
His Kalyn Siebert trailer, which is rated at 85 tons, was the first 13-axle Henning purchased. “It’s built so stout I’ve used it to move loads beyond its capacity, which landed me a job last year moving 2,060 metric tons of cargo to the port of Houston,” he says.
Henning’s other 13-axle is also rated at 85 tons, but it’s a custom-built Etnyre designed to have a lighter empty weight. “The custom spec’d Etnyre 13 was the result of lots of thinking outside the box,” he says. “The empty weight is where it has an edge. With my lightest truck, I’m 82,300 empty.” In contrast, the empty weight with the Kalyn Siebert is about 99,000 pounds. Henning says that the lighter empty weight of his Etnyre 13-axle means higher payload and lowered relocation costs.
But he’s not content to stop at 13-axles. One of his customers has asked him to quote a job that will involve hauling 237,000-pound condenser shells to a power plant in Virginia. Because he will need the right transport system to tackle this job, Henning did lots of research to determine if he wanted a 19-axle or a dual-lane trailer.
“I’m going with the dual-lane because it’s more permit-friendly,” he says. “You can widen the width of the axles out depending on what the states want to see, and [it allows for] better and safer loading of a bridge.”
Now Henning is working with XL’s engineers to spec out a dual-lane trailer rated for 350,000 pounds, which is about three sizes bigger than a 13-axle. It’s one more way he is chasing the edge to stay ahead of the competition.
SIDEBAR: A Special Relationship
Henning’s special relationship with his dealer has allowed Sooner Heavy Hauling to work more closely with the manufacturer. “Justin’s really helped me get a rapport established with XL and Etnyre,” Henning says. “A lot of times manufacturers won’t let a customer have a lot of interaction with their staff because they’re scared of conflict with the dealer and getting accused of trying to sell direct.”
Henning, however, has been encouraged to build a relationship with the people who are making the trailers he’s buying. “I have the cell phone number of an engineer at XL,” he says. He’s grateful for this because being on good terms with both manufacturer and dealer has allowed him to customize trailers to the exact specs he needs.
Kimberly J. Schwartz
schwartzk@bnpmedia.com
Kimberly J. Schwartz is editor of Site Prep.
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