Marine pipefitter is the name the pipefitting trade takes in shipbuilding and ship repair — in private yards and in the Navy's.
Our research carries no shipyard-specific duty description, so start with the trade: pipefitters install and maintain pipes that may carry chemicals, acids, and gases, and steamfitters specialize in systems for liquids or gases at high pressure.
The one marine-specific credential we verified is TSA's TWIC, for workers who need access to secure areas of maritime facilities and vessels.
What is marine pipefitting?
Marine pipefitting is the pipe trade's name in shipbuilding and ship repair.
The duty descriptions our sources carry are for the trade in general: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes pipefitters and steamfitters as installing and maintaining pipes that may carry chemicals, acids, and gases — pipes that are mostly in manufacturing, commercial, and industrial settings — and steamfitters as specializing in systems for liquids or gases at high pressure.
The United Association describes its steamfitters as fabricating, installing, maintaining, and repairing high-pressure systems that move steam, hot water, and other industrial fluids, including chilled water and compressed air, with welding, rigging, and hydrostatic and pneumatic testing in the work.
What the shipyard setting adds to that work, our research does not say: no source we hold describes marine pipefitting duties specifically, and we will not invent them.
What we can cover is the trade's own data — the credential, the job market and the pay — each within its stated scope.
On classification, the record we have is this: O*NET folded the old plumber and pipe fitter/steamfitter codes into one occupation, 47-2152.00 Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters, and the sample of reported titles we read — Drain Technician, Fire Sprinkler Service Technician, Pipe Welder, Pipefitter, and Plumber — carries no marine title.
Our research found no separate marine wage line either; "marine pipefitter" and "shipyard pipefitter" are the names this page uses for that one occupation's work on ships.
If you are new to piping, start with the pipefitter career guide for the trade's foundations, and read the pipefitter vs steamfitter breakdown if the high-pressure side is new to you.
Where marine pipefitter jobs are
This page reads the name in two settings — private shipyards and the Navy's own yards, under either name: marine pipefitter or shipyard pipefitter.
Beyond that, our research carries no shipyard employer list, so we will not name yards, cities or hiring programs.
In the occupational tables, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152) counted 465,840 wage-and-salary jobs nationally in May 2025, and the industries employing the most of them were building equipment contractors (340,140), utility system construction (14,960) and local government excluding schools and hospitals (11,480).
Ship and boat building is not among the three industries the table lists as employing the most, and our research carries no marine-only employment count — the occupation tables measure the whole combined trade.
The state counts work the same way.
The states with the most jobs in the occupation in May 2025 were California (47,660), Texas (44,090), Florida (29,260), New York (23,210) and Illinois (16,750) — occupation-wide figures, not a map of shipyard work, so read them as where the trade is thickest rather than where the yards are.
Growth is measured across the whole occupation too: BLS projects 6.8% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, against a 3.5% average across all occupations, with about 42,000 openings a year.
The projections count includes self-employed workers; the OEWS counts above do not.
For openings near you, the postings are the source — browse current pipefitter positions on our job board.
Training and clearances for shipyard work
The craft layer first: NCCER's Pipefitting curriculum is organized in four levels, Level 1 through Level 4, and our guides cover the routes in — the how-to-become guide lays out the routes and the timeline, the pipefitter apprenticeship guide covers how apprenticeship works and its pay steps, and the NCCER pipefitter test guide explains the NCCER test and how to prepare.
The maritime layer is security.
A TWIC — Transportation Worker Identification Credential — is required under the Maritime Transportation Security Act for workers who need access to secure areas of maritime facilities and vessels, and the Transportation Security Administration runs a security threat assessment (a background check) before issuing it.
Whether your yard job reaches a secure area is job-specific, so ask the employer exactly what access your role requires before you commit.
Our research did not source naval shipyards' hiring or access requirements; on those, the yard's hiring office is the authority on what its process requires.
One more corner we cannot verify: shipboard credentials.
Our research did not source USCG or STCW rules for shipboard roles — the gap our researchers logged names shipboard refrigeration — and offshore training such as BOSIET or HUET, and offshore rotation schedules, were not sourced either.
We will not invent the list — if a posting names a shipboard credential, get the exact requirement from the yard.
Access rules are set by agencies and by each yard
Marine pipefitter salary and pay
Start with the honest benchmark: our research found no separate marine wage line, so the series to quote is the combined occupation, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152).
That series earned a median of $30.67 an hour, or $63,800 a year, in May 2025 per the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (OEWS, released May 15, 2026).
The 90th percentile was $52.13 an hour ($108,420 a year) and the 10th percentile was $21.22 ($44,150) — the spread the combined trade runs nationally.
Read any "marine pipefitter salary" number with the survey's limits in mind.
OEWS covers wage-and-salary workers, so the self-employed are outside the figures, and annual wages assume a 2,080-hour year.
The wages include base pay, commissions, production bonuses, incentive pay and tips, but exclude overtime pay, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses such as sign-on or holiday bonuses, and benefits — so annual earnings can exceed the survey figures on overtime-heavy schedules.
State tables for the trade live on our pipefitter salary page.
What we will not give you is a premium: our research carries no verified marine-vs-land pay comparison, and we will not guess one.
How union work pays — scale, per diem and benefits — is its own subject: our union pipefitter pay guide covers it, and our pipefitter-welder guide covers the pay side of the welding combo.
Career and pay information, not legal advice — the TWIC requirement is TSA's under the Maritime Transportation Security Act, and a yard's site access is that yard's own process — so confirm the current requirements with TSA and the employer before you apply.
What the BLS figures include