Top 3 Things To Know About Refrigerated Truck

The refrigerated truck or truck is a truck intended to transport cold. It is a truck for perishable, refrigerated, or frozen goods. How does a refrigerated truck work, what are the different types of refrigerated trucks, and the rental and purchase prices. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this blog and learn everything you need to know about refrigerated trucks.

What is the cold chain?

The cold chain (or refrigeration chain) refers to all logistics operations concerning perishable products (transport, handling, storage). These products can be food or pharmaceutical products (vaccines, organs, blood…), which have in common that they must be permanently maintained at a given temperature in order to preserve their quality.

We talk about the cold chain because at no time this cold maintenance must be interrupted, otherwise, the whole chain is broken. The product then becomes unfit for consumption because it is potentially contaminated. We, therefore, use refrigerated trucks or refrigerated trucks.

How does a refrigerated truck work?

The refrigerated truck is the most common means of transport in the cold chain. It is a vehicle whose design, operation, and maintenance are subject to many regulatory and hygiene aspects. In particular, it must:

• Be clean and regularly cleaned and disinfected.
• Be designed to facilitate cleaning.
• Be maintained more regularly than other vehicles.
• Be reserved for the sole and exclusive transport of perishable foodstuffs (must never transport potentially contaminating products)
• Be equipped to maintain foodstuffs at appropriate temperatures at all times.
• Have tools for monitoring and tracing temperatures.

There are currently several air conditioning and refrigeration technologies for cold transport:

• Diesel engine generator set
• Generator on electric battery
• Cold supply by dry ice, carbon dioxide, or eutectic gel

The central and common element is the thermostat, which allows to adjust and control of the cold produced by the generator set (refrigeration engine and air conditioning). The ventilation of the cold in the refrigerated truck is usually done from the front of the body, where the cooling takes place, towards the rear, where the hot air is sucked and evacuated to the outside.

For this reason, it is important that the floor, walls, ceiling, and doors are well cleared to allow air to circulate. The doors must be perfectly sealed. The larger the door, the more cold is lost when opening and closing it. The body is pre-cooled before loading. When the vehicle is stopped, the generator continues to run. A refrigerated truck can maintain a temperature between -40 and +20 °C.

Refrigerated vehicle or reefer vehicle

The refrigerated vehicle is equipped with a cold production device (refrigeration unit) and an isothermal box. It takes about 1.5 hours from the start of the refrigeration unit to reach the desired temperature. The thermostat will maintain it thereafter.

We speak about the cell or integrated body (insulating panels inside the body, which marry the shape of the body) or cell or added body (sandwich panels fixed on the chassis). The refrigerated truck can reach temperatures of -24°C (frozen food). It can be single or multi-temperature.

Everything depends on the size of the vehicle… To drive a refrigerated truck, you will need a BE license (a car with a trailer whose GVW is less than or equal to 3.5 tons). That is to say, the license to drive a vehicle assigned to transport goods. It is possible to hold a C license and the FIMO to drive a refrigerated truck. You will also need a professional title of a road driver or refrigerated transport driver.

Looking for help?

The different types of refrigerated trucks exist depending on the type of cargo carried. So, do you need a refrigerated truck in Dandenong South, VIC, to transport your perishable goods? Get in touch with the professionals at PK Logistics! They provide temperature-controlled delivery services to businesses and individual clients. So, what are you waiting for? Give them a call for more information on their refrigerated truck services.