Tankerman Jobs in the U.S. Maritime Industry

Tankerman is the endorsement that turns a deck job into a cargo job. On a tank barge unit the tankerman handles the transfer: lining up the manifold, connecting and disconnecting hoses, monitoring tank levels and pressures, filling out the declaration of inspection with the dock, and staying on the paperwork the Coast Guard will later read.

It is a licensed responsibility carried by an unlicensed mariner, which is what makes it valuable. The PIC cannot leave the transfer, and the barge cannot move cargo without one. Endorsements split by cargo type, dangerous liquid and liquefied gas, and by whether you are on a tank barge or a self-propelled tank vessel.

Most tankermen come up through deck work. You sail as a deckhand on a chemical or black oil unit, log transfers under a PIC, take the course, and sit for the endorsement. Several of the big inland operators run that pipeline internally.

Rotations mirror the towing sector: 28/14 and 20/10 on the rivers, 28/28 on some coastwise units. Some tankermen work as relief PICs shoreside at terminals and fleeting areas instead of sailing.

The work concentrates around Houston, the lower Mississippi, Lake Charles and the Ohio Valley, where the refineries and chemical plants are.