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Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers and Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$57,440
$58,070
Employment · BLS OEWS
2,070,480
10,920
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
45th pct
23rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
Median pay $57,440 $58,070
Employment 2,070,480 10,920
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.0%) About average (+4.3%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 237,600 1,300
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 45th pct Low · 23rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 45th pct · 25% of tasks 15th pct · 14% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (40.5%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Far Vision, Transportation, Control Precision, Multilimb Coordination, Rate Control, Public Safety and Security, Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Reaction Time, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Near Vision, Depth Perception, Selective Attention, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Time Management, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Visualization, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Static Strength.

Specific to Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

  • Spatial Orientation
  • Response Orientation
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Deductive Reasoning
  • Law and Government
  • Troubleshooting
  • Category Flexibility
  • Time Sharing

Specific to Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders

  • Perceptual Speed
  • Production and Processing
  • Finger Dexterity
  • Trunk Strength
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility
  • Speech Recognition
  • Speech Clarity

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Operating system software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Data base user interface and query software , Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software .

Specific to Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers

Specific to Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers or Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

    More comparisons

    Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

    Sources for this page

    Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

    Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

    Cite this page
    Plain

    Singulariki. "Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-tank-car-truck-and-ship-loaders

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-tank-car-truck-and-ship-loaders

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-tank-car-truck-and-ship-loaders,
  title  = {Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers vs Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers-vs-tank-car-truck-and-ship-loaders}
}

    Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.