How To Become A Cargo Surveyor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cargo surveyor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cargo surveyor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $38.54 an hour? That's $80,171 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCargo SurveyorUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,171

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 5.99%

Black or African American 11.78%

Hispanic or Latino 10.95%

Unknown 7.23%

White 63.43%

Gender

female 0.00%

male 100.00%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.9

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a cargo surveyor

Explore cargo surveyor education requirements

Most common cargo surveyor degrees

Bachelor's

60.0 %

High School Diploma

16.0 %

Diploma

12.0 %

Start to develop specific cargo surveyor skills

Skills	Percentages
Commodities	60.63%
Board Vessels	19.33%
Cargo Operations	11.62%
Business Proposals	8.41%

Complete relevant cargo surveyor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cargo surveyors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cargo surveyor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cargo surveyor resumes.

Research cargo surveyor duties and responsibilities

Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, and electronicdistance-measuring equipment.
Coordinate with freight forwarders to expedite international shipments.

Prepare your cargo surveyor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cargo surveyor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cargo surveyor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable cargo surveyor resume templates

Build a professional cargo surveyor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your cargo surveyor resume.