Refrigerated transport

Explanation of refrigerated transport

A refrigerated transport represents a form of special transport. Refrigerated transport requires special requirements from a forwarder, especially with regard to hygiene and maintaining the cold chain. In addition to meat and sausage products and perishable fruit and vegetables, the transport of frozen goods in particular represents a challenge for logistics. Pharmaceutical or chemical products as well as valuable or sensitive flowers and plants may also require temperature-controlled logistics with a controlled atmosphere. In addition to strict legal requirements, e.g. in the form of food regulations, more and more end consumers are also paying very close attention to hygiene deficiencies and breaches of the chill chain. Special requirements must also be observed when securing and stacking loads. Some countries, e.g. France, also require certain certificates for refrigerated vehicles, the presence of which must be visible as stickers. It is the driver's responsibility to check whether these are subject to fines for foreigners.

For the transport of sensitive goods, for which the refrigerated transport is typical, special requirements regarding adherence to delivery dates must be observed and a loss of quality must be avoided. Refrigerated transport generally requires storage at a temperature that can range from -18 to +25 degrees. Special systems for monitoring refrigeration data, which measure, monitor and document the temperature of the cargo space, are helpful here. Drivers or companies are informed of any deviations. Recently, GPS-supported fleet management systems and RFID (radio frequency identification) chips attached to the products as a documentation tool have been helpful here. Depending on the ambient temperature and the structural condition of the cooler, a more or less long pre-cooling period must be observed before the actual transport. This ensures that the cold chain, i.e. the uninterrupted cooling during transport between manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer, is maintained.

Cool transport, like many other special transport, is particularly seasonal. Certain goods such as ice cream or chilled drinks are only in high demand in certain seasons. In the market environment of Spedition it should also be noted that some large suppliers dictate the market in both the fresh and frozen product sectors and are in a position to exert great pressure on logistics companies.