Some fresh fruits, vegetables, and carcass meats are shipped before they have been precooled to the proper transit temperature. The ideal situation would be for the carrier to accept only properly precooled product. When this is not practical, the trailer’s refrigeration system must bear the additional heat load. Truck refrigeration units may have enough reserve capacity to remove a reasonable amount of heat in addition to respiration heat and heat transferring through the vehicle body. However, if the product is much above the desired transit temperature at loading time, the entire heat load should be estimated (see Appendix I). If the estimated heat load is more than the refrigeration unit is rated to bear, the trailer should not be used. With regard to freeze cargoes, refrigeration equipment used to transport frozen foods is designed to remove heat that may transfer into the load compartment (railcar, truck, or container). However, the refrigeration capacity of transit vehicles does not provide for removal of much heat from the load.

Refrigerated trucking is a complicated process with many challenges. It’s essential to maintain proper temperatures in order to ensure the food stays fresh and follows regulations to keep consumers safe, but this isn’t always easy.
Drivers who transport refrigerated goods require a deep knowledge of how refrigerated trailers function in order to execute a successful delivery. Any driver operating a reefer truck should undergo training so they know how to set controls for their reefer unit. Without this training, drivers may make the mistake of setting the reefer unit to start-stop mode instead of continuous-run mode or vice versa.