Freight transportation is a huge industry in today’s globalized world, in which customers expect to have access to whatever they want, whenever they want. We are already familiar with the four major types of freight transportation available: road, rail, ocean, and air. As well as the fact that each of these categories has its own processes, which means that it is vital to understand the different options and the advantages of each in order to choose the right one for your business.
In this article, however, we are going to focus on the benefits of one very specific area of freight transportation: refrigerated transportation (also known as reefer freight). Refrigerated transportation is a shipping method that involves special, temperature-controlled vehicles. These vehicles have a built-in refrigeration system that maintains the products they transport at the desired temperature throughout the journey.
The invention of refrigerated freight transportation represented a huge leap for the transportation industry. It dates back to the 1800s, when ice and salt were first used on train cars to keep temperature-sensitive goods cool. This highly unreliable method was the beginning of a revolution in refrigerated freight transportation which is still in progress today. It has gained in efficiency, profitability and reliability, and is now an essential sector within the freight industry.
Global trade in perishable goods that require refrigerated transportation has expanded in recent years and is expected to continue to grow. Thanks to the availability of the refrigerated transport option, everyone can now deliver goods with a short shelf life. This has led to a significant need for fast transport solutions for fresh perishable goods. Refrigerated transport is for a specific type of goods, however, for many products, it is not simply an option, but an unavoidable necessity.
One of the many benefits of refrigerated freight transportation is that it keeps products at their optimum condition from their place of origin to their destination. This is particularly important for perishable products in order to keep them cool and fresh. Refrigerated transportation prevents products from deteriorating and losing their value during transportation. This applies not just to food, such as meat and dairy, but also sensitive items such as flowers and plants, art pieces, valuable chemicals, medical products and pharmaceuticals.
Reefer freight: A changing industry
Quality refrigerated transport services offer businesses an opportunity to preserve their products while accessing a larger market base, improving their customer relationships, lowering costs and increasing sales.
However, if you think refrigerated transportation is only about getting a set of perishable items from point A to point B, you’d be very wrong. Refrigerated freight transportation companies need to understand how each specific product needs to be transported based on its perishability. The possibility of spoilage or loss of value during transport must be eliminated. Some of the products that require refrigerated freight transportation are not only specific, but also vital and urgently needed. Refrigerated freight transportation companies must ensure that the transportation methods they use to transport the products are appropriate and foolhardy, and more often than not, the products need to be delivered within an extremely strict timeframe.
Additionally, refrigerated freight transportation companies not only have to offer overseas shipping services, but they also have to cover regional and local transportation services, to ensure that the timeframe and temperature for those particular goods are maintained right up to the last minute. For example, products may need to be shipped using maritime transport in refrigerated containers, and then transported in reefer trucks using a local refrigerated courier service.
As the refrigerated freight transportation industry continues to expand in response to the needs of businesses worldwide, technology, logistics and expertise develop alongside it, offering solutions and innovation to address the challenges of global transportation. The solutions available today may look nothing like their primitive origins, but in their essence, they respond to the same basic need: the safe and timely transportation of goods from one place to another.
