Question:
Hi Guys
Have been approached to come and operate a SwingLifter ( one of those self loading trailers, see www.steelbro.co.nz ) in California for a guy, wondering how I would go getting a CDL there for insurance purposes. I have a Multi Combination Licence in Western Australia and have driven those big road train thingies.
Would my Oz licence count at all and what hoops would I have to jump through ? There must be a 100 of these lifters running around Perth and have been told they 're as rare as hens teeth in the states . how come ? just hoping that I'm not flogging a dead kangaroo. Would be glad to share an insight in to how we use them to make everyones life easier here in OZ.
Cricky I'll start having to call myself DingoKid aka The King of Swing.

Answer:
DK, several things immediately come to mind...
1) Are you sure that this guy is reliable enough that you'll actually have a job when you arrive here?
2) Will you need a visa, and will you furthermore need a work visa?
3) Questions about driver licensing would best be answered by the source... the California DMV at http://www.dmv.ca.gov/commercial/commercial.htm
Good luck

Answer:
I've never heard of any kind of "reciprocal" Commercial Driver's License deal, certainly nothing mentioned in FMCSR (except a limited agreement between Canada and Mexico).
Sounds like you'd have to go through the whole deal of getting a CDL, just like any other US driver. Which means a "resident location" in one of the states, as US CDL's are issued from each state, there isn't a "national" CDL, even though each state's license is good in all of them.
As previously mentioned, you'd probably need to get all this hashed out with the company you mentioned and the California DMV. Not to mention the complication of what kind of resident or work visa you'd need from the Feds to even qualify for going through the process, so you may have to get with US Immigration also, if employer/DMV can't answer the questions.
Mac

Answer:
Thanks guys maybe I need to look further into this, the guy flew over to Perth Western Australia from L.A. about a million miles to see me so I believe he is straight up and has the work.
It looks like getting the right visa could take a lot of time , thought that it would be easier now with the Free Trade Agreement between our two countries ( l think we will export Kanagroos and Koala bears to you as it appears that you guys don't have enough and in return you send all the trucks and SUV's that can be cramed onto a boat as we want more)
Perhaps I can obtain a Mexican Licence slightly easier., better start watching old Clint Eastward westerns.

Answer:
The reason why we don't use those container lifters (I know what you are referring to, BTW) are a few:
Firstly, storage space and docks are quite common and inexpensive here in the US, so we have little need for containers to be set on the ground, waiting to be unloaded then picked up. We can rent them for storage, and some of these rental companies do use such equipment, but it's uncommon.
Drivers are paid by the mile, not the hour, so we don't have the European problem of the driver needing to get in and out as quickly. That's one of the big reasons containers are dropped in places like the UK-they don't want to tie up trucking equipment.
In the container industry in the US, the container companies own the trailer chassis, not the hauliers. No container company would want an untrained driver operating such equipment. When a container hauler comes into a port, he gets a container already hooked to the chassis, and that's how he returns it.
I doubt your friend would get much interest here. It's been tried before, but our industry isn't conducive to using these things.
Answer:
Thanks for your reply Alexx it seems that we have gone the other way here, most of our customers have facilities with minimum space, keeps costs down I suppose then hire storage space for overflow, it may be just a shed or an old warehouse with one or two docks, thats where the swinglift comes into its own.
I have stacked 10 x 40' containers in a row and keep changing them out with feeder trucks running in a full box and taking an empty away. 4 forklifts were on the job and we managed to unload and stack the contents of 45 x 40' containers in 2 days.
Another example is a well know band was doing a show around the country and decided to rail their equipment which came to 5 40" containers and again I brought the first box in grounded it and 1 feeder truck kept running backwards and forwards bringing in full taking away an empty box. Equipment foot print was minimum ( 1x swing lifter and 1 x truck trailer combo ) there were no safety issues as everything was on ground and there was not the gaggle of trucks waiting outside to be called in to the dock.
Alot of recycling companies make use of the lifter filling a container as quickly as it suits them knowing that it can be taken away with a call. Intra city transfers of products is very easy with loading and unloading done with no time constraints.
Less equipment costs and maintainance ( I have read some posts on picking up poorly maintained trailers at the warf which were frightening)
Large and small companies would love the flexibility this equipment can offer, we even have a load yourself service for people moving house in that I will drop a empty container on their front lawn, they load their house hold items, I come pick it up and rail it to where ever.
I could go on but I've probably sent you to sleep with my ramblings, I think that there is a future for this equipment in the states and hopefully soon people will wonder how they ever did with out it.