The Datum Report

Occupation 9259 · Elementary occupations

Elementary storage occupations n.e.c.

Half of full-time elementary storage occupations n.e.c. in the UK earn more than £35,863 a year, and half earn less.

Job holders in this unit group supply berthed ships with water, oil and petroleum, load and unload cargo from ships, boats and barges, and perform other elementary goods handling and storage related tasks not classified elsewhere in minor group 925: Elementary storage occupations.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements. Training is typically provided off or on-the-job. Vocational qualifications in Warehousing and Storage at levels 1, 2 and 3 and in Port Operations at levels 2 and 3 are available.

What the work involves

• attaches hoses to ship’s flow connections, starts pump to transfer oil, petroleum or water to and from a ship and uncouples hose system when loading/discharging is complete
• arranges cargo on quayside or in hold for loading or unloading and selects appropriate hook, chain, rope, sling or other grappling attachment
• attaches winch or crane hooks, slings, ropes or clamps to load, signals to crane driver to commence lifting, visually checks that load is balanced and ensures that route is clear for movement
• removes grappling attachment from cargo and stows cargo in hold or loads cargo on to transport or into warehouses
• directs the movement and operation of vehicles, such as lorries and cranes, on site
• x-rays cargo

Also called

Art handler · Dock worker · General assistant (wholesale trade) · Labourer (haulage contractor)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for elementary storage occupations n.e.c., full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 4 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Delivery operatives · Elementary storage supervisors · Warehouse operatives