Thank you, balajiyes. I believe that DIRECT=TRUE is valid in 8.1 (although I am relatively new to Oracle). (I am using 8.1.7 if that makes any difference.)

My understanding is based on a quick google search and that my supervisor (out of the country for 2 weeks) ran the same sort of sqlldr script on his box (also using 8.1).

In my google search I found the following. (Perhaps you had been using different versions of Oracle on client and server?? If so, it may explain your questioning whether v8.1 supports DIRECT=TRUE.) It is from http://www.csis.gvsu.edu/GeneralInfo...96652/ch09.htm

For versions of the Oracle database server prior to 9i, you can only perform a SQL*Loader direct path load when the client and server are the same version. This also means that you cannot perform a direct path load of Oracle9i data into a database of an earlier version. For example, you cannot use direct path load to load data from a release 9.0.1 database into a release 8.1.7 database.

However, beginning with Oracle9i, you can perform a SQL*Loader direct path load between different versions as long as both the client and server are version 9i or later. For example, you can perform a direct path load from a release 9.0.1 database into a release 9.2 database.
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the help and hope we can get a solution.