The people who guide ships into port, run terminals, and move millions of containers between sea and land.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Harbor Pilot: Climbs aboard huge incoming ships and personally steers them through dangerous harbor channels. Typical pay $400k.
Ship-to-Shore Crane Operator: Sits in a cab 150 feet up and lifts 40-ton containers on and off ships. Typical pay $150k.
Longshore Worker: Loads, unloads, and lashes cargo on ships at port terminals. Typical pay $130k.
Port Director: Runs a public port authority, its terminals, budget, and growth plans. Typical pay $200k.
Port Engineer: A shore-based engineer who manages repairs and dry-docking for a fleet of ships. Typical pay $135k.
Mooring Master: Takes command of the tricky job of bringing two giant tankers side by side at sea to transfer oil between them. Typical pay $220k.
Port Captain: A shore-based former ship captain who manages a fleet's vessels, crews, and safety from the office. Typical pay $145k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Harbor Tugboat Captain: Drives powerful little tugboats that push and pull giant ships into their berths. Typical pay $105k.
Marine Terminal Operations Manager: Coordinates the cranes, trucks, crews, and schedules that keep a container terminal moving. Typical pay $100k.
Vessel Traffic Service Operator: The 'air traffic controller' of a busy harbor, tracking every ship by radar and radio. Typical pay $82k.
Harbormaster: Manages a harbor or marina's moorings, safety, and rules. Typical pay $78k.
CBP Officer (Seaport): A federal officer who inspects cargo, crews, and passengers arriving by sea. Typical pay $88k.
Port Police Officer: Police officer who patrols ports and harbors by car and boat. Typical pay $77k.
Port Planner: Plans how ports grow: new terminals, rail lines, and climate-proof waterfronts. Typical pay $82k.
Reefer Container Technician: Repairs the refrigerated shipping containers that carry fruit, meat, and medicine. Typical pay $60k.
Pilot Boat Operator: Drives the fast boats that carry harbor pilots out to huge ships, in any weather, day or night. Typical pay $80k.
Ship & Tank Loader: Connects hoses and runs pumps that load oil, chemicals, grain, or fuel into ships, barges, tank cars, and trucks. Typical pay $59k.
Straddle Carrier Operator: Drives the giant, spider-like machines that lift and stack shipping containers in a port. Typical pay $90k.
Port Crane Mechanic: Repairs and maintains the towering ship-to-shore cranes that load container ships. Typical pay $65k.
Ship Chandler: Supplies ships in port with everything they need: food, rope, paint, spare parts, and medicine. Typical pay $72k.
Container Lasher: Locks and unlocks the steel rods and twistlocks that hold stacked containers in place on ships. Typical pay $65k.
Draft Surveyor: Reads the draft marks painted on a ship’s hull and calculates exactly how many tons of cargo were loaded. Typical pay $75k.
Wharfinger: A port official who assigns ships to berths, tracks how long they stay at the wharf, and bills them for it. Typical pay $72k.
Vessel Stowage Planner: Builds the loading plan that decides where every container goes on a ship, so it stays stable and unloads in order. Typical pay $80k.
Starter: fastest way in
Tugboat Deckhand: Handles the heavy lines and deck work on a tug or towboat. Typical pay $48k.
Line Handler: Catches and secures the giant ropes that tie a ship to the dock. Typical pay $42k.
Terminal Yard Tractor Driver: Shuttles containers between cranes and storage stacks inside a port terminal. Typical pay $45k.
Dredge Operator: Runs massive dredges that dig sand and mud from harbor channels so ships do not run aground. Typical pay $52k.
Lock and Dam Operator: Operates the giant locks that lift and lower boats and barges on rivers and canals. Typical pay $52k.
Marine Clerk / Cargo Checker: Tracks every container and piece of cargo moving through a terminal. Typical pay $48k.
Port Security Officer: Guards terminal gates and checks credentials at a seaport. Typical pay $40k.
Cargo Fumigator: Seals imported cargo like fruit, logs and grain under tarps and fills it with gas to kill hidden insects. Typical pay $48k.
Harbor Drift Collection Crew: Crews special boats that scoop floating logs, pilings and trash out of busy harbors before they hit ships. Typical pay $54k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.