AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 53-7121.00
Will AI replace Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders?
Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders: AI can already handle 2 of 19 tasks; most of the work is hands-on, and the part AI can address mostly needs a standard-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 19 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders, from most to least exposed. 2 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Test vessels for leaks, damage, and defects, and repair or replace defective parts as necessary. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Check conditions and weights of vessels to ensure cleanliness and compliance with loading procedures. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Observe positions of cars passing loading spouts, and swing spouts into the correct positions at the appropriate times. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Monitor product movement to and from storage tanks, coordinating activities with other workers to ensure constant product flow. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Copy and attach load specifications to loaded tanks. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Remove and replace tank car dome caps, or direct other workers in their removal and replacement. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Operate ship loading and unloading equipment, conveyors, hoists, and other specialized material handling equipment such as railroad tank car unloading equipment. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Record operating data such as products and quantities pumped, gauge readings, and operating times, manually or using computers. | Estimated | No tier | |
| 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. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Unload cars containing liquids by connecting hoses to outlet plugs and pumping compressed air into cars to force liquids into storage tanks. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Clean interiors of tank cars or tank trucks, using mechanical spray nozzles. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Operate conveyors and equipment to transfer grain or other materials from transportation vehicles. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Perform general warehouse activities, such as opening containers and crates, filling warehouse orders, assisting in taking inventory, and weighing and checking materials. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 19 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 19 of 19. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A standard-tier model or lower covers 16% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 16% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 84% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 10,700
- Median annual wage
- $58,870
- Middle half of earners
- $46,300 to $70,060
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +4.3%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators 63% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure26
- Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers 62% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure18
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining 62% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure17
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand 62% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure21
- Transportation Inspectors 60% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure27
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders and AI
Will AI replace Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders?
AI already handles 2 of the 19 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 22 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +4.3% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders?
22 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 19 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 19 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Verify tank car, barge, or truck load numbers to ensure car placement accuracy based on written or verbal instructions; Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads. They are the tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A standard-tier model or lower covers 16% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 84% is hands-on work that no model tier covers. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders, and what do they earn?
10,700 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $58,870 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +4.3% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loaders
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.