The Right Reefer

The drivers from northern Ontario's Farquhar's Dairy know a lot about hauling ice cream and, by extension, about reefer units. One of the Espanola-based dairy's marquee products is its premium ice cream and it's the drivers' responsibility to ensure that the chocolate, vanilla, or cherry-flavored stuff stays premium en route to customers instead of a gooey mess oozing out the bottom of the tubs.

"When we're buying new equipment, we always err on the side of overpowered for our reefer units," says Farquhar's Dairy general manager and fleet supervisor Aaron Farquhar. "You don't want to be running it full out all the time because that's going to cut the lifespan of your equipment. You want it to be overpowered for what you'll be using it for. That way you should be able to get at least 40,000 hours out of it."

Being a dairy, they're also hauling the raw material for ice cream - milk - as well as produce from their wholesale grocery arm, all of which requires multi-temperature reefers and bulkheads within their trailers to create various temperature environments. After all, a load of lettuce won't respond to -10° F as well as a load of ice cream will.

Owner-operators in the reefer biz face a similar challenge: unless you've got a steady draw, you never know what you'll be hauling from one load to the next. In the for-hire world, flexibility is key.

Keeping Your Cool
Robbie Fleming at Eskimo Refrigeration Ltd. in Calgary says the most important thing to consider when spec'ing a reefer unit is the noise factor. While the technology has improved from the noisy days of yore, he says a noise-reduction package is worth considering.

"It's never for driving down the road but it sure helps when sleeping. It's also important when you're making deliveries in the wee hours of the morning to the local grocery stores. You don't want complaints from irate neighbors. The noise-dampening equipment is an option on the basic equipment and standard on the high-end stuff."

Of equal importance is capacity. Fleming says one of the first things he asks a potential buyer is what kind of loads they'll be hauling. Are they going to be trucking ice cream through Arizona in the summer or bringing bananas north in the middle of the winter? Or do they need a couple of different temperatures, where they've got an assortment of fresh, frozen, or heated products on board?

"We try to tailor the equipment to their specific loads. For example, in a Canadian environment hauling vegetables, they should be looking for a more fuel-efficient unit because most produce loads require the unit to run continuously," he says. "If they're hauling frozen meat or apples they can use a stop-start unit and save some fuel."

For deep-freeze loads like ice cream, frozen seafood, and bread dough, Fleming says buyers need 'jumbo' or high-capacity reefers with bigger compressors. They run at a higher rpm but add an additional 25% capacity.

For owner-ops looking to expand their earning potential and make the search for a backhaul easier, a multi-temperature unit is the way to go, according to Fleming. They're pretty much mandatory for food service or dairy runs and drivers can haul an assortment of cargo running anywhere from -10ºF up to 50ºF, depending on the number of compartments they create within their trailers using bulkheads. "Multi-temp units are more expensive in terms of initial cost and on-going maintenance, but if you've got one, you can always get a load," he says.

While cooling capacity is important, temperature control is at least as critical. Electronic control options developed in recent years have made that chore a no-brainer, according to Mike Murdock, trailer product manager at Carrier Transicold in Athens, Georgia. "The over-riding theme for the new generation of reefer units is that they must be more intelligent and capable of better control, yet easy to operate. Drivers no longer need to alter refrigeration set points as loads change."

Some manufacturers, including Carrier, have created pre-programmed control settings for matching temperature to a specific cargo. Instead of entering a numerical set point, the driver simply chooses the type of product in the trailer from a pre-programmed list of up to 30 different profiles - each with unique characteristics for temperature control.

These advanced microprocessors also feature sophisticated diagnostic capabilities, making service and repair more efficient than ever. Some will even perform comprehensive, eight-minute pre-trip inspections comprising 15 critical tests. And with numerous sensors, alarms, and electronics for recording, analyzing, and reporting operating data, these next-generation controls eliminate guesswork, boosting operational control, productivity, efficiency, and profits for the owner-op.

One last thing to consider about reefer units is the new emissions standards coming down the pipe. California recently passed restrictions that will put an end to idling reefer units when at a dock by 2006. "Soon you'll have to use an electric standby motor to keep your unit running when you're at the dock," says Fleming. And he suspects future units to come with electronic fuel injection pumps as well as some type of an exhaust particulate trap or catalytic converter. "The manufacturers are keeping pace with the legislation," says Fleming.

And to meet environmental requirements, Fleming says reefer engines will likely be beefed up to perhaps 2.6 litres to keep up with horsepower demands. "We had to change our refrigerants about five years ago and the new stuff is higher pressure and needs more horsepower to turn the compressors."

Reefer Vans
Once you've got the reefer unit spec'd, you'll have to turn your attention to the trailer. Jeff Werth, an account manager at Wabash National Trailer Center in Kitchener, Ont., says owner-ops are primarily concerned with weight when buying a new reefer trailer. "That plays a big factor in spec'ing," he says.

Buyers are looking for the perfect match between weight savings and durability - especially with the internal liner. He says Wabash uses a high-impact material called Bulletex that has a higher impact rating than traditional liners but it saves weight, so you get the best of both worlds.

Werth says insulation is not so big a concern nowadays because the reefer units have a lot more output and run more efficiently. "Some of the full-time ice-cream haulers might go for a thicker insulation package. But for the over-the-road linehaul or produce-hauling owner-op, they pretty much go for the same insulation package that the fleets go with." Like Aaron Farquhar with Farquhar's Dairy, Werth advises buyers to overspec their reefers, "because you never know what you're going to be hauling."

There are two types of trailer flooring to choose from: ribbed or flat. Grocery haulers or LTL drivers tend to go for the flat floors because they're in and out of the van with dollies regularly. The ribbed floor, which allows chilled air to circulate better within the trailer, comes in two styles: lightweight and heavy duty. "The difference is the top floor thickness, the part the tow motor rides on," says Werth.

"We carry only heavy duty, and because you never know where you're going to be tomorrow, it's better to go with the heavier floor. When it comes to the structural integrity of the floor, it's better to save weight in some area other than the floor."

A driver's daily routine will determine what kind of door goes on the trailer. An LTL driver usually goes for a roll-up door because they can back up to a loading dock and roll up the door without any temperature loss. The roll-up doors have higher maintenance costs but make it up in efficiency. Long-haul drivers, who aren't opening up so often, routinely opt for swing-type doors, according to Werth.

And finally, trailer lengths - most common are the standard 48- or 53-ft trailers. Bear in mind that power units longer than 244 in. cannot pull 53-ft trailers in Canada. And as for trailer lengths and compliance issues, it all comes down to suspension spreads. In Ontario, a 53-ft trailer can only go to a maximum 72-in. spread, whereas a 48-footer can stretch the spread out to 10 ft, 1 in., which allows you to get more weight over the trailer axles, according to Werth. "Unfortunately, you can't run the '10-1' spread in the western provinces, but you can in most of the U.S. The ideal for across North America would be a 53 on a closed tandem - that's 80% of the business."

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