---
title: "Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader"
description: "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…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-7121 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 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 advertised as: Load Out Person; Loader; Loader Operator; Loading Operator; Oil Movements Operator; PVC Loader (Polyvinyl Chloride Loader); Rail Car Loader; Tank Car Loader.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $58,870 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.30/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,460 to $83,160, with the middle half between $46,300 and $70,060
- **Total US employment:** 10,700
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 52/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 10,700 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,460 |
| 25th | $46,300 |
| 50th (median) | $58,870 |
| 75th | $70,060 |
| 90th | $83,160 |
| Mean (average) | $59,970 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MD | $81,320 | $77,478 | 110 |
| SC | $80,700 | $86,081 | 90 |
| MT | $80,070 | $84,600 | 80 |
| MN | $76,620 | $77,691 | Not published by BLS |
| AL | $75,450 | $84,944 | 240 |
| OR | $74,040 | $71,632 | Not published by BLS |
| MA | $71,750 | $67,844 | 140 |
| NH | $70,030 | $67,230 | 40 |
| CA | $68,600 | $61,958 | 110 |
| NJ | $64,890 | $59,639 | 120 |
| ND | $61,210 | $68,807 | 310 |
| TX | $61,170 | $63,025 | 1,620 |
| LA | $58,900 | $66,775 | 500 |
| MI | $57,900 | $60,176 | 200 |
| MO | $57,750 | $63,589 | 180 |

20 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 35 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 12,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 13,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +2.8%. About as fast as average: 2.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 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% |

## What the work involves

- Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers.
- Check conditions and weights of vessels to ensure cleanliness and compliance with loading procedures.
- Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
- Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow.
- Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
- Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures.
- 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.
- Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Transportation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Rate Control — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.96 |
| C — Conventional | 4.77 |
| I — Investigative | 1.98 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.30 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 90.2 |
| ISFJ | 76.0 |
| ISTP | 75.5 |
| ESTJ | 75.0 |
| INTJ | 65.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Industrial Truck and Tractor Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-truck-and-tractor-operator) — median $46,420
- [Conveyor Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/conveyor-operator-and-tender) — median $42,420
- [Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand) — median $40,240
- [Pump Operator, Except Wellhead Pumpers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pump-operator) — median $61,770
- [Loading and Moving Machine Operator, Underground Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loading-and-moving-machine-operator-underground-mining) — median $74,500
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220
- [Crane and Tower Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/crane-and-tower-operator) — median $68,080
- [Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operator, Surface Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operator-surface-mining) — median $57,430
- [Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanic, Except Engines](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mobile-heavy-equipment-mechanic) — median $65,510

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader