Sailors and Marine Oilers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 13% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 20% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 80% of the time, stays with people.
Stand watch to look for obstructions in path of vessel, measure water depth, turn wheel on bridge, or use emergency equipment as directed by captain, mate, or pilot. Break out, rig, overhaul, and store cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging, and running gear. Perform a variety of maintenance tasks to preserve the painted surface of the ship and to maintain line and ship equipment. Must hold government-issued certification and tankerman certification when working aboard liquid-carrying vessels. Includes able seamen and ordinary seamen.
31,670 people do this job in the US. $51,520 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on5 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet3 h
- Stays with people32 h
Sailors and Marine Oilers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 5 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 3 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 32 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Maintain government-issued certifications, as required (about 5 h); Record data in ships' logs, such as weather conditions or distances traveled (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 20%
- 0%
- 80%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 13%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 24 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 88% of this job's working time as physical work. For 64% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 51% in a purpose-built cell, 6% in a structured facility, 7% in any setting. 0.83 of 3, the 214th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 12%
- No robot shown 24%
- In a purpose-built cell 51%
- In a structured facility 6%
- In any setting 7%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintain government-issued certifications, as required.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 19% | 3.3 h50 min to 2.1 work days | 63%Half by now | |
| Tie barges together into tow units for tugboats to handle, inspecting barges periodically during voyages and disconnecting them when destinations are reached.Done more than weekly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 2.5 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Break out, rig, and stow cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging, or running gear.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Stand watch in ships' bows or bridge wings to look for obstructions in a ship's path or to locate navigational aids, such as buoys or lighthouses.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Sweep, mop, and wash down decks to remove oil, dirt, and debris, using brooms, mops, brushes, and hoses.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Autonomous interior vacuum cleaning robot aboard AIDAnova (Kärcher / AIDA Cruises) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Handle lines to moor vessels to wharfs, to tie up vessels to other vessels, or to rig towing lines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MoorMaster NxG automated vacuum mooring (Cavotec) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Paint or varnish decks, superstructures, lifeboats, or sides of ships.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, STEEL PAINTER (INROPA) robotic paint system (Innovation Tech, LLC / INROPA) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Operate, maintain, or repair ship equipment, such as winches, cranes, derricks, or weapons system.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Chip and clean rust spots on decks, superstructures, or sides of ships, using wire brushes and hand or air chipping machines.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Blastman automatic blast cleaning robots (B-series, in 100 m x 30 m blast room) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 2.5 h25 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Load or unload materials, vehicles, or passengers from vessels.Done more than weekly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Zhi Fei smart container ship + Qingdao automated terminal (A-TOS / A-ECS) (Shandong Port Shipping Group / Qingdao Port (Shandong Port Group), ZPMC equipment) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 2.5 h25 min to 1 work day | Stays with people | |
| Provide engineers with assistance in repairing or adjusting machinery.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 2.5 h38 min to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine machinery to verify specified pressures or lubricant flows.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, ANYmal X (ANYbotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Sailors and Marine Oilers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 13% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 20% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (19% to 20% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Sailors and Marine Oilers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Maintain government-issued certifications, as required (63% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Record data in ships' logs, such as weather conditions or distances traveled (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Sailors and Marine Oilers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Tie barges together into tow units for tugboats to handle, inspecting barges periodically during voyages and disconnecting them when destinations are reached; Break out, rig, and stow cargo-handling gear, stationary rigging, or running gear; and Stand watch in ships' bows or bridge wings to look for obstructions in a ship's path or to locate navigational aids, such as buoys or lighthouses. Together such tasks are about 80% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Sailors and Marine Oilers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Sailors and Marine Oilers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 88% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 64% of the working time, 7% in any setting. Its index is 0.83 of 3. One example: HiNAS Control (HiNAS 2.0) for "steer ships under the direction of commanders or navigating officers or direct helmsmen to steer, following designated courses". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 24 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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