Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
Occupation · SOC 53-7121.00
Load and unload chemicals and bulk solids, such as coal, sand, and grain, into or from tank cars, trucks, or ships, using material moving equipment. May perform a variety of other tasks relating to shipment of products. May gauge or sample shipping tanks and test them for leaks.
Also called: Loader · Loader Operator · Tankerman · Truck Loader · Load Out Person · Loading Operator · Oil Movements Operator · PVC Loader (Polyvinyl Chloride Loader) · Rail Car Loader · Tank Car Loader · Barge Loader · Barges Loader
Job family: Transportation and Material Moving Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-53-7121-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+4.3% by 2034)
- 1,300 openings/yr
- Low AI exposure
- Median pay $58,070/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
- 2013 flagged this for computerization (59th); today's AI task-overlap is comparatively low (9th)
9th-percentile task overlap — yet about 1,300 openings a year (+4.3% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Low | 7th | -1.4 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Low | 10th | 0.1 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Low | 23rd | 0.1 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.1). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.7 · 59th percentile among occupations · Moderate
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +4.3% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 1,300 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 12,000 → 12,500 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders sits at the 15th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
14% mean task exposure (2025)
15th percentile of 427 placed occupations
−3 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Freight Handlers · 9333 | 14% | Not exposed |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 19 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks. Core · importance 4.7
- Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars. Supplemental · importance 4.6
- Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions. Core · importance 4.6
- Check conditions and weights of vessels to ensure cleanliness and compliance with loading procedures. Core · importance 4.5
- Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures. Core · importance 4.5
- Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times. Core · importance 4.5
- Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow. Core · importance 4.5
- Copy and attach load specifications to loaded tanks. Supplemental · importance 4.4
- Remove and replace tank car dome caps, or direct other workers in their removal and replacement. Supplemental · importance 4.4
- Operate ship loading and unloading equipment, conveyors, hoists, and other specialized material handling equipment such as railroad tank car unloading equipment. Core · importance 4.3
- Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing. Supplemental · importance 4.3
- Test vessels for leaks, damage, and defects, and repair or replace defective parts as necessary. Supplemental · importance 4.3
- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers. Core · importance 4.3
- Operate industrial trucks, tractors, loaders, and other equipment to transport materials to and from transportation vehicles and loading docks, and to store and retrieve materials in warehouses. Core · importance 4.2
- Unload cars containing liquids by connecting hoses to outlet plugs and pumping compressed air into cars to force liquids into storage tanks. Supplemental · importance 4.1
- Clean interiors of tank cars or tank trucks, using mechanical spray nozzles. Supplemental · importance 4.0
- Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads. Supplemental · importance 3.9
- Operate conveyors and equipment to transfer grain or other materials from transportation vehicles. Supplemental · importance 3.9
- Perform general warehouse activities, such as opening containers and crates, filling warehouse orders, assisting in taking inventory, and weighing and checking materials. Supplemental · importance 3.5
Work activities
- Verify information or specifications.
- Monitor vehicle movement or location.
- Position material handling equipment.
- Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.
- Monitor loading processes to ensure they are performed properly.
- Communicate with others to coordinate material handling or movement.
- Record operational or production data.
- Inspect cargo areas for cleanliness or condition.
- Operate vehicles or material-moving equipment.
- Connect cables or electrical lines.
- Install parts, assemblies, or attachments in transportation or material handling equipment.
- Test materials, solutions, or samples.
- Direct maintenance or repair activities.
- Measure the level or depth of water or other liquids.
- Clean vessels or marine equipment.
- Operate conveyors or other industrial material moving equipment.
- Inspect material-moving equipment to detect problems.
- Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.
- Connect hoses to equipment or machinery.
- Mark materials or objects for identification.
- Control pumps or pumping equipment.
- Weigh materials to ensure compliance with specifications.
- Monitor availability of equipment or supplies.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Abilities
| Control Precision | 3.9 | |
| Multilimb Coordination | 3.9 | |
| Manual Dexterity | 3.8 | |
| Rate Control | 3.8 | |
| Far Vision | 3.8 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.6 | |
| Perceptual Speed | 3.6 | |
| Reaction Time | 3.6 | |
| Static Strength | 3.6 | |
| Depth Perception | 3.6 | |
| Near Vision | 3.5 | |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 3.4 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 3.3 | |
| Oral Expression | 3.1 | |
| Selective Attention | 3.1 | |
| Finger Dexterity | 3.1 | |
| Trunk Strength | 3.1 | |
| Stamina | 3.1 | |
| Extent Flexibility | 3.1 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.1 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.1 | |
| Written Comprehension | 3.0 | |
| Written Expression | 3.0 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.0 | |
| Flexibility of Closure | 3.0 | |
| Visualization | 3.0 |
Transferable skills
| Operations Monitoring | 3.8 | |
| Operation and Control | 3.8 | |
| Time Management | 3.1 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.0 |
Knowledge
| Transportation | 3.5 | |
| Production and Processing | 3.3 | |
| English Language | 3.3 | |
| Public Safety and Security | 3.1 |
Essential skills
| Reading Comprehension | 3.3 | |
| Active Listening | 3.0 | |
| Writing | 3.0 | |
| Speaking | 3.0 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.0 | |
| Monitoring | 3.0 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Tools & technology
| Example | Category | |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Operating system software | Hot technology |
| Microsoft Excel | Spreadsheet software | Hot technology |
| Microsoft Office software | Office suite software | Hot technology |
| SAP software | Enterprise resource planning ERP software | Hot technology |
| Warehouse management system WMS | Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software | In demand |
| CompuWeigh GMS | Data base user interface and query software | |
| Distributed control system DCS | Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software |
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Education
- Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
- Typical entry-level education
- No formal educational credential · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
- Preparation level
- SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| High School Diploma | 81.4% | |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 12.0% | |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 3.9% | |
| Bachelor's Degree | 1.8% | |
| Some College Courses | 0.9% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Realistic | 7.0 | |
| Conventional | 4.8 | |
| Investigative | 2.0 | |
| Enterprising | 1.3 |
Interest areas
| Physical/Manual Labor | 6.3 | |
| Transportation/Machine Operation | 6.2 | |
| Mechanics/Electronics | 2.2 | |
| Engineering | 1.9 | |
| Accounting | 1.4 | |
| Protective Service | 1.4 | |
| Agriculture | 1.4 |
Work styles
| Dependability | 3.0 | |
| Cautiousness | 2.6 | |
| Attention to Detail | 2.3 | |
| Integrity | 1.6 | |
| Stress Tolerance | 1.4 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $38,260 |
| 25th percentile | $47,260 |
| Median (50th) | $58,070 |
| 75th percentile | $71,230 |
| 90th percentile | $88,120 |
| People employed | 10,920 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 6,840 | $60,190 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 1,840 | $57,150 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 960 | $44,160 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 370 | $62,340 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 340 | $44,420 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 220 | $33,320 |
| Construction · Sector | 120 | $59,270 |
| Retail Trade · Sector | — | $37,960 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | — | $44,020 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | — | $50,540 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 13.07× | 6,840 |
| Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction · Sector | 9.11× | 370 |
| Wholesale Trade · Sector | 2.25× | 960 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 2.04× | 1,840 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 1.17× | 220 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 0.53× | 340 |
| Construction · Sector | 0.21× | 120 |
Related occupations
Part of the Supply Chain & Transportation career cluster.
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators · 53-7051.00 Compare →
- Conveyor Operators and Tenders · 53-7011.00 Compare →
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand · 53-7062.00 Compare →
- Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers · 53-7072.00 Compare →
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining · 47-5044.00 Compare →
- Hoist and Winch Operators · 53-7041.00 Compare →
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers · 53-7063.00 Compare →
- Crane and Tower Operators · 53-7021.00 Compare →
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining · 47-5022.00 Compare →
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines · 49-3042.00 Compare →
- Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers · 51-8093.00 Compare →
- Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers · 53-3032.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- No formal educational credential · typical entry level
- Job zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed · preparation tier
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 15th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders show 9th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,300 annual U.S. openings
- Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders rank in the 9th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 1,300 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+4.3%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $58,070, across about 10,920 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders show 9th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,300 annual U.S. openings • Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders rank in the 9th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 1,300 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+4.3%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $58,070, across about 10,920 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-7121-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "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; 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/roles/role-53-7121-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-7121-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-53-7121-00,
title = {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; 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/roles/role-53-7121-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.