Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
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.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Reading Comprehension
- Time Management
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Transportation
- Production and Processing
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Mechanical
- Education and Training
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions.
- Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times.
- Operate ship loading and unloading equipment, conveyors, hoists, and other specialized material handling equipment such as railroad tank car unloading equipment.
- Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow.
- 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.
- 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.
- Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (81.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (35.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (27.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Higher on contact with others than 57% of occupations compared | 72% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 65% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 82% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 69% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 90% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 91% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 53% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 98% of occupations compared | 89% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 12.6%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 15.06%
- Constant contact with others: 72.34%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 23.64%
- Fairly important: 17.13%
- Important: 10.73%
- Very important: 27.44%
- Extremely important: 21.06%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2019
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.39%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 9.59%
- Very important: 9.95%
- Extremely important: 78.07%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2019
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.92%
- Very little freedom: 15.51%
- Limited freedom: 2.15%
- Some freedom: 45.81%
- A lot of freedom: 33.61%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2019
Time pressure
- Never: 0.7%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.73%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.53%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.17%
- Every day: 63.86%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2019
Conflict situations
- Never: 6.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.31%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.21%
- Every day: 40.7%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2019
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 7.46%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 43.21%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.39%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 19.39%
- Every day: 10.55%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2019
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0.71%
- Fairly serious: 5.98%
- Serious: 0.71%
- Very serious: 3.99%
- Extremely serious: 88.62%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2019
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O*NET-SOC 53-7121.00 · SOC 53-7121 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8