How to become Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader in 2024

Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader 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.

Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader is Also Know as

In different settings, Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader is titled as

  • Load Out Person
  • Loader
  • Loader Operator
  • Loading Operator
  • Oil Movements Operator
  • PVC Loader (Polyvinyl Chloride Loader)
  • Rail Car Loader
  • Tank Car Loader
  • Tankerman
  • Truck Loader

Education and Training of Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

Training Required for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader in different industries are

What Do Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader do?

  • 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.
  • Connect ground cables to carry off static electricity when unloading tanker cars.
  • Seal outlet valves on tank cars, barges, and trucks.
  • Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing.
  • Remove and replace tank car dome caps, or direct other workers in their removal and replacement.
  • Lower gauge rods into tanks or read meters to verify contents, temperatures, and volumes of liquid loads.
  • Clean interiors of tank cars or tank trucks, using mechanical spray nozzles.
  • Operate conveyors and equipment to transfer grain or other materials from transportation vehicles.
  • Test vessels for leaks, damage, and defects, and repair or replace defective parts as necessary.
  • Unload cars containing liquids by connecting hoses to outlet plugs and pumping compressed air into cars to force liquids into storage tanks.
  • Copy and attach load specifications to loaded tanks.
  • Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures.
  • Perform general warehouse activities, such as opening containers and crates, filling warehouse orders, assisting in taking inventory, and weighing and checking materials.

Qualities of Good Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

  • Computer laser printers
  • Conveyor belt systems
  • Digital hydrometers
  • Electric hoists
  • Loading scales
  • Mechanical spray nozzles
  • Mobile shiploaders
  • Personal computers
  • Protective respirators
  • Reach trucks
  • Riding pallet jacks
  • Skid steers
  • Stock pickers
  • Tablet computers
  • Walk behind pallet jacks
  • Warehouse forklifts
  • Wheeled front end loaders

Technology Skills required for Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader

  • CompuWeigh GMS
  • Distributed control system DCS
  • Linux
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • SAP software
  • Warehouse management system WMS