Shipment modes
Refrigerated Freight Shipping for Chilled and Controlled Cargo
Refrigerated freight shipping is a set point, airflow, and a pre-cooled box—not a dry van with the AC on. Chilled cargo and frozen cargo are different products.
Updated 2026-08-20 · refrigerated freight shipping
Refrigerated freight shipping is the reefer trailer (or reefer container) holding a set point your product can survive: produce in a chill band, chocolate that cannot freeze, pharma that cannot drift. The unit must run, the box must be pre-cooled, and the cargo must already be at temperature. A reefer is not a blast freezer.
COL Freight Solutions books reefer FTL—and specialized LTL when it exists—across USA, Mexico, and Canada with carriers who actually run continuous. Send commodity, set point, and whether the load is pulped at origin. We will not quote a dry van and hope the weather cooperates.
What refrigerated freight shipping requires on the dock
Product already at temperature, a pulp or probe protocol if the receiver demands it, and a trailer pre-cooled to the set point before the first pallet hits the floor. Loading a warm warehouse into a cold box is how you get condensation and claims.
Airflow matters. Block the return, stack to the ceiling without a bulkhead plan, or shrink-wrap so tight that air cannot move, and the unit’s display will lie while the core cooks or freezes.
- Set point in writing (and whether continuous or start-stop is allowed)
- Chilled versus frozen—do not mix without a multi-temp plan
- Receiver pulp requirements and appointment rules
Chill bands versus “keep it cold”
Produce, dairy, and many foods live in a chilled range. Frozen is a different set of set points and a different risk if the unit cycles off. Saying “refrigerated” without a number is how two parties book two products.
Pharma and some chemicals need validated ranges and sometimes dual drivers or extra telematics. Declare it. Cheap reefer capacity is not a validation package.
Cross-border reefer is still a temperature file
Idling at a crossing with the unit off to save fuel is a claim waiting for a timestamp. COL’s bilingual desk treats set point as a live instruction, not as a sticker on the BOL that nobody reads at the booth.
Mexican receivers may pulp on arrival. If your origin skipped pulping, you will argue with a number you never recorded. Photograph the reefer download when the carrier can provide it.
FTL reefer versus hoping LTL stays cold
Dedicated reefer FTL keeps your set point and your seal. Reefer LTL exists in some networks and still has more doors opening. If the cargo cannot take that, do not buy it for the rate.
Multi-stop reefers need a loading sequence that matches delivery order and temperature. Last-on, first-off is not a suggestion.
Request a reefer quote from COL
Put the set point and commodity on the first line. Request refrigerated freight shipping as FTL unless you have a reason to ask LTL.
Call 561-880-9808. Recurring reefer lanes are partnership freight—the kind of cadence that can later include a cost-recovery discussion for qualifiers.
