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<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, Canadian Owner Operator Dean Hansen was named as one of eight finalists in the National Tank Truck Carriers\u2019 Professional Tank Truck Driver of the Year Award. He is the only Canadian in the running.
In early 2022, Dean flew to Washington, DC, to complete interviews with an NTTC panel and meet with his fellow nominees and past award winners. The US drivers were especially interested in Dean\u2019s experience driving on the Alaska Highway and on ice roads. Between the eight nominated drivers, it is estimated that the group has driven 25 million miles and holds more than 300 years of experience.<\/p>\r\n
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A career behind the wheel<\/strong> From the left: Area Manager Besnik Gasi, Susan Hansen, and Dean Hansen.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Support network and mentorship<\/strong>
<\/strong>Dean has been a professional driver since 1976 and has an estimated 3.7 million miles under his belt.
His fascination with trucks started early as a young boy when his uncle introduced him to his first driving experience. So, it was an easy decision to pick up the profession at the age of 17. He began driving truck in 1976 in Red Earth, Alberta. Throughout his career, he has been in business with his mother, father, sister, brother in-law, brother, and sister in-law.
\u201cI love driving truck,\u201d he said. \u201cI love going different places and this has given me the opportunity to travel to a lot of different areas.\u201d
Over the years, he has taken advantage of opportunities to run his own business with various family members. At the peak of his company\u2019s operation in the 1980s, he had eight trucks working for Gibson Energy. Eventually, he focused his efforts being based out of Edson, Alberta.
By 1997, he bought out his parents and continued to operate trucks with his brother Robert and his wife Heather as Emerald Carriers Ltd.\u202fIn 2016, he decreased down to operating two trucks with the help of his driver Darian, who has been driving with Dean for 24 years.
Dean celebrated his 45th service anniversary in May of 2021. He is now based out of Trimac Energy Service\u2019s Edmonton, Pressure branch. Dean primarily hauls pressurized commodities but has hauled many other bulk products.
His work has taken him throughout western Canada but also east to Winnipeg, west to the coast, and sometimes into the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and the northern US.
The biggest changes he\u2019s noticed to the industry over his driving career is the improvement of equipment and safety regulations.
\u201cDean\u2019s a natural leader and his unwavering commitment to Safety which made him an ideal candidate,\u201d said Area Manager Besnik Gasi, who joined Dean and his wife Susan at the panel meet and greet in Washington. \u201cHe trains all of our new hires and consistently challenges everyone to do better and improve processes. His key to success has been his wife Susan, attitude, and aptitude\u2014he comes in positive each day and tries to see different perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.trimac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Besnik-Gasi-DeanHansen-745x620-1.webp\")
Dean\u2019s philosophy is that mentorship is one of the biggest assets to any company looking to recruit drivers.
\u201cGiving somebody someone they can call and rely on for the best information is so important,\u201d said Dean, who has done quite a bit of training with new drivers over the years. \u201cI always give a new driver I have trained my 24-hour phone number. A four-minute phone call at 3am is better than a potential catastrophe. It\u2019s best to get your questions answered and find out as much info before going into a job.\u201d
He also values the mentors and co-workers he\u2019s had the privilege to work with throughout his career.
\u201cIn all the years I have been in this, the people I have met, some have become lifelong friends since I\u2019ve been in this industry,\u201d said Dean. \u201cI can\u2019t be thankful enough to the people who have helped me along the way and those I\u2019ve worked with.\u201d
In particular, he holds Neil Carruthers in high regard, who worked for him and Dean\u2019s father Lloyd for a short time before moving onto management at Gibson\u2019s. His father was also a tremendous mentor for Dean. Dean considers friend Don Davidson one of the best truck drivers who has worked with his family for 13 years. And without a doubt, Dean gives credit to his wife Susan.
\u201cMy wife is probably more responsible for keeping me going than anyone,\u201d said Dean, speaking of his wife of 38 years. \u201cShe has been my partner since Day 1.\u201d
When Dean\u2019s not on the road, he is spending time with his two sons, Logan and Myles and their families. He is grateful for the sacrifices his family made while he was away on long hauls.
Dean was shocked and very grateful for the nomination of 2021-2022 Professional Tank Truck Driver of the Year. The Grand Champion will be unveiled at the NTTC\u2019s 2022 Annual Conference & Exhibits in San Diego, California, April 23-26th.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"class_list":["post-3506","news-releases","type-news-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trimac.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-releases\/3506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trimac.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trimac.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-releases"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trimac.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}