Sailors & Marine Oilers
Structural exposure score derived from 2 independent sources (OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" (human_rating_beta) + AIOE (Felten, Raj & Seamans)), each normalized against its own full reference population and combined by simple average, then converted to a percentile.
We have not ingested real-world usage data for this occupation yet. We show a band only where genuine data exists, rather than estimate one.
What a sailors & marine oilers actually does
Sailors and marine oilers make up a vessel's unlicensed deck and engine crew, standing watch to look for obstructions and navigational hazards, operating and maintaining a ship's steering and anchoring equipment, and rigging and handling cargo gear during loading and unloading. Deck-side sailors (sample titles include Able Seaman and Deckhand) chip, paint, and maintain the ship's exterior, tie up and cast off mooring lines in port, and lower and crew lifeboats during an emergency drill or real evacuation.
Marine oilers work in the engine room, monitoring and lubricating engines, pumps, and other mechanical equipment, and standing watch over engineering systems alongside a ship's licensed engineers.
The occupation splits into an entry-level tier (Ordinary Seaman, Wiper) requiring no prior credential, and a qualified tier (Able Seaman, Qualified Member of the Engineering Department, Lifeboatman) that requires a government-issued Merchant Mariner Credential from the U. S. Coast Guard, earned only after a minimum period of documented sea service, ranging from six months to three years depending on the specific rating and vessel type. Workers who handle liquid cargo aboard tankers need an additional, separately certified Tankerman endorsement.
Most sailors and marine oilers work for water transportation companies or federal, state, and local government maritime agencies.
Why it reads this way
Sailors & Marine Oilers score 90/100 on this site's structural exposure measure, one of the highest readings on the entire site, reflecting how far the job's core work, physically rigging cargo gear, standing watch on a moving deck, maintaining engine-room equipment by hand, sits from anything a language model touches.
Beyond the physical-task protection, the qualified tier of this occupation (Able Seaman, Qualified Member of the Engineering Department) carries a real federal credentialing requirement: under 46 CFR Part 10, the U. S. Coast Guard issues a personal Merchant Mariner Credential only after a mariner completes a documented minimum period of sea service, six months to three years depending on the specific rating and vessel type, and workers handling liquid cargo aboard tankers need a further, separately certified Tankerman endorsement.
Fully autonomous cargo vessels are a real, current technology, not a hypothetical, and this site discloses that honestly rather than minimizing it: Yara Birkeland, the world's first autonomous electric container ship, has been in extended sea trials off Norway with expectations of completing that trial by early 2026, and Japan's MEGURI2040 program is targeting Level 4 autonomous coastal shipping around the same timeframe.
Neither has converted an existing crewed fleet to autonomous operation at commercial scale, and industry coverage frames the technology explicitly as a response to a projected shortfall of roughly 26,000 ships' officers by 2026, addressing a labor shortage rather than displacing an adequately staffed workforce. BLS projects modest, stable growth (1-2%, 2024-2034) consistent with a role facing a real hiring gap rather than declining demand.
Skills this role draws on
We don't yet have task-by-task time-share data for this occupation, so we can't show which specific tasks carry the exposure score above. This is the real skill set instead.
Typical salary range (USD)
$34,560–$83,620
Average: $51,520/yr
Range source: BLS OEWS wage data via O*NET OnLine (2025 release), SOC 53-5011.00 'Sailors and Marine Oilers'
Average source: BLS OEWS wage data for Sailors and Marine Oilers (53-5011.00) via O*NET OnLine, 2025 wage data (Annual Median Wage)
Related careers
Head-to-head comparisons
Sailors & Marine Oilers score 90/100 (Medium structural confidence, both pillars cover this code), one of the highest readings on the site, reflecting how far physically rigging cargo gear, standing deck watch, and hand-maintaining engine-room equipment sits from language-model task exposure. The qualified tier of this occupation (Able Seaman, QMED) carries a real federal wall: under 46 CFR Part 10, the U.S. Coast Guard issues a personal Merchant Mariner Credential only after 6 months to 3 years of documented sea service, plus a separate Tankerman certification for liquid-cargo vessels. Fully autonomous cargo vessels are real, not hypothetical — Yara Birkeland has been in extended sea trials off Norway with an expected 2026 trial completion, and Japan's MEGURI2040 program targets Level 4 autonomous coastal shipping on a similar timeline — but neither has converted an existing crewed fleet at commercial scale, and industry coverage frames the technology as addressing a projected 26,000-officer shortfall rather than displacing an adequately staffed workforce. BLS projects modest, stable growth (1-2%, 2024-2034), consistent with a real hiring gap rather than declining demand, as of 2026-09-21.
This is a researched judgment (checklist v1.2), not a statistical measurement — it sits alongside, not instead of, the structural exposure signal above. Next scheduled review: 2027-03-21.
Sources (5)
Data sources & methodology
Salary data: BLS OEWS wage data via O*NET OnLine (2025 release), SOC 53-5011.00 'Sailors and Marine Oilers'. Min/max figures represent the 10th–90th percentile annual wage range across the United States. Average figure sourced separately: BLS OEWS wage data for Sailors and Marine Oilers (53-5011.00) via O*NET OnLine, 2025 wage data (Annual Median Wage).
Automation Risk Score: Based on O*NET occupational analysis (53-5011.00) evaluating task complexity, physical requirements, social intelligence, and environmental variability. Methodology based on research from Frey & Osborne (Oxford, 2017).
Growth projections: Slower than average (1-2%, 2024-2034), ~3,900 projected openings over the decade (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook / O*NET Job Outlook), based on BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.