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Boston Career Explorer

Transportation and Material Moving

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.

Also called: Load Out Person, Loader, Loader Operator, Loading Operator, Oil Movements Operator, PVC Loader (Polyvinyl Chloride Loader)

Median pay in Greater Boston
$77,490
$37.26/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
80
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+7.3%
20 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
No formal educational credential
plus Short-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$62,470$70,350$77,490$79,560$81,770

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

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

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure13 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 6
  • Language-model AIOE 5
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 27

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is lower, and little or no AI use has been observed so far. AI tools could help check load numbers and track weights and records. They do not seal valves, line up spouts, or check that a tank is clean.

Likely to change

  • Checking load numbers against instructions
  • Tracking vessel weights and loading records

Still relies on people

  • Sealing valves and positioning loading spouts
  • Checking vessel cleanliness and safe loading

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

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    Your work moving bulk loads with equipment carries over to crane operation, which pays about $98,140 in Boston and is growing fast.

    Pay difference
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    AI exposure
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    High school diploma or equivalent

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  • Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers

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    Pay difference
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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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