If your business requires you to transport items in cool conditions, you may be considering purchasing and using refrigerated trucks and trailers. For those who are planning to expand, a trailer is a much better choice.
Using Different Types of Commercial Trailers and Trucks
A flatbed trailer has no walls. Products on it are generally palletized and strapped down. A Conestoga trailer has rolling tarps that can be added to cover and protect the product on the trailer.
A dry box trailer is just that; it has walls and a roof but little to no insulation and no air moving or cooling features. A refrigerated truck or trailer has insulation and a chilling tool to keep the temperature of the product inside the truck down to a level that will protect your product.
Refrigerated Truck or Reefer Trailer
A refrigerated truck is a great choice for short delivery hops in your area, but the act of getting yourself a truck means that you can expand your delivery area because you can control it. If you’re going to make an investment that makes it possible for you to deliver your own refrigerated products, a trailer increases your volume options.
Additionally, once you have a trailer, you can build a rolodex of drivers who can deliver your product to any area of the country. A trailer can also reduce the space you need to dedicate to inventory. For those who generate products as soon as the order comes through, having a trailer you can park inside your facility or just outside the loading door means you can go directly from shipping out the door into the trailer.
Making Your Investment
Any trailer that offers cooling will eventually generate condensation. This moisture can lead to rust and cause a great deal of trouble under the trailer floor and among the framing members. When you go to buy a used or refurbished trailer, professionals at Hale Trailer offer information on reefer trailers for sale that are available through them and have been thoroughly checked out making it ready for Federal Highway Administration inspection.
Other Inspection Steps
When choosing your refrigerated trailer, make sure you also get the suspension thoroughly checked out to reduce the risk of failure and dangerous wrecks. The suspension options for reefer trailers in particular include
- standard slide
- air slide
- spring
- spring slide, and
- air ride suspension
Suspension is one of the many factors in transport that’s much easier to maintain than it is to repair. Carefully consider the weight of what you need to ship and buy up in weight tolerance to protect your people, product and other drivers.
Owning your own refrigerated trailer can greatly increase your reliability as a supplier and allow you to expand your business offerings to a larger geographic area. Knowing that your delivery process is secure because you will have much more control over how often you can get product out the door.
