Anchor Trucking Services Inc. delivers heavy off-road equipment and machinery from coast to coast. In this interview, President Jim Crain tells Irrigation Leader about his company’s services and its recent delivery of rehabilitated construction equipment from Evans Equipment of Concordia, Missouri, to Kennewick Irrigation District in central Washington State.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Jim Crain: I am the president of Anchor Trucking Services Inc., a company that my dad started back in 1965. I got into the business when I graduated from high school, and my son Eric joined the business after he graduated, also. We are a multigenerational business.
Irrigation Leader: What services do you provide?
Jim Crain: We deliver heavy off-road equipment and machinery, such as bulldozers, scrapers, and excavators. We mainly transport construction equipment, but we also deal with a lot of mining equipment. When dealing with heavy equipment, there are lots of permits involved, and the requirements differ between states. We have multiaxle trailers that can work for the weight requirements of each state.
Irrigation Leader: How do your vehicles differ from regular delivery trucks?
Jim Crain: Mainly, they just have more axles, and sometimes the trailers are quite a bit longer and wider and have more capacity as far as grading. Our trailers can haul from 35 to 85 tons.
Irrigation Leader: Do your drivers need special licenses or permits?
Jim Crain: In almost every state, you have to have an overweight permit for any vehicle over 80,000 pounds. Some states will allow a little more weight on secondary roads but require an overweight permit for trucks of that weight on the interstate. For any vehicles over 8½ feet wide, you have to have a permit. Normally, the biggest you can go without a permit is 8½ by 53 feet. Drivers need a normal commercial driver’s license, but a doubles and triples certification is usually required for pulling multiaxle trailers equipped with dollies.
Irrigation Leader: What states do you deliver to?
Jim Crain: We deliver to all 48 contiguous states and to Canada.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the work you’ve done with Evans Equipment.
Jim Crain: We’ve been working with Evans for at least 40 years. The company sells a lot of mining equipment, oversized equipment, irrigation equipment, big dozers, and big sprayers.
Irrigation Leader: Do you also deliver things like pipe?
Jim Crain: No, we just supply the heavy equipment. We don’t deliver flatbed pipe or those types of materials.
Irrigation Leader: You recently delivered some Caterpillars and other equipment to Kennewick Irrigation District in Washington State. Do you do a lot of work for water- and irrigation-related entities?
Jim Crain: We don’t work directly for the water and irrigation industry, but rather for the construction contractors. For example, we are working with another company that is constructing dikes and things like that. We don’t usually work directly for the company but rather for its contractor.
Jim Crain is the president of Anchor Trucking Services Inc. For more on Anchor Trucking Services, visit www.anchortruckingservices.com.
