What is a Refrigerated Truck? Your Easy Guide for 2025

Have you seen big trucks on the road with a cooling unit on top? Those are refrigerated trucks, or “reefers” . They keep things cold or frozen when they go from one place to another. Think of them as big, moving fridges!

1. What Do Refrigerated Trucks Do?

Refrigerated trucks are very important for our way of life. They bring food, like fruits, veggies, and meat, to our stores. They also take medicine to hospitals and drug stores . These trucks have special equipment to keep things at the just right temperature .

Refrigerated transport is a big deal! The cold chain logistics make sure things don’t go bad before they get to you.

2. How Do These Trucks Work? Let’s Find out!

Refrigerated trucks are like big boxes with a powerful cooler built in . This cooler is called a refrigeration unit.

Insulated Trailer: The box part is super insulated. That means it keeps the cold air in and the warm air out. Just like your lunch box!
Temperature Control: The driver can set the temperature to be just right for what’s inside. Some things, like ice cream, need to stay frozen. Other things, like bananas, just need to stay cool.
Refrigerants: Some new trucks use special liquids that help the environment. These are called low-GWP refrigerants. The Thermo King e300 is a brand name that uses this!

For a deeper understanding of related vehicles, be sure to read our comprehensive article on high-capacity carbon steel refueling trucks.

Table: Get the Facts!

Cool Fact	What it Means
What is a refrigerated truck	It’s a truck with a fridge in its big box.
Types	Mechanical, liquid nitrogen, and cold storage
Top Makers	DOLMA CONTAINER is one big company that makes them in 2025.
Price	New ones can cost from $25,000 to $100,000!
2025 Trucks	The 2025 Isuzu FTR , with a big 20’ cold box
2024 Company Size	Hill Brothers runs a lot (250!) of trucks and even more(500) cold trailers!
How it works	Cummins engine, Allison makes the transmission easy to use.
Big market	Freight rates (how much it costs to ship things) go up by Q2 (Spring/Summer) 2025
New technology	electric-powered, no bad gas
More on trucks	Use sites like Commercial Truck Trader to look at prices.

Refrigerated Trucks: An Infographic

Refrigerated Trucks: The Cold Chain Connection

Refrigerated trucks, also known as “reefers,” are essential for transporting temperature-sensitive goods. They are equipped with a cooling system to keep products fresh or frozen.

How They Work

Refrigerated trucks use an insulated compartment and a refrigeration unit. The unit maintains a constant temperature, often using mechanical cooling, liquid nitrogen, or cold storage methods.

Truck Types and Uses

Different types of refrigerated trucks suit various needs: liquid nitrogen, mechanical and cold storage. Uses include transportation of food and pharmaceuticals, and temperature sensitive items. They keep products at the correct temperature during transportation.

Market Size

Price Range Info

new trucks, price goes from $25,000 (for small size) to $100,000( bigger size). the price increase with a more powerful cooling system and larger sizes.

Top Makers

Some top refrigerated truck manufacturers is DOLMA CONTAINER MANUFACTURING PVT. There are also Isuzu and other brands.

3. Why Are These Trucks So Important?

Refrigerated trucks play a big role in the supply chain. That’s the way things get from where they are made to where we buy them.

Food Safety: The reefer market keeps food safe from germs.
Medicine Works: Pharmaceuticals, like shots and some pills, need to be cold.
Big Business: The US and Canada refrigerated trucking is worth billions of dollars!

A similar, yet different, industry is the transport of crucial resources, such as described in our article on the aluminum alloy oil tanker.

4. Meet the Trucks: Some Top Types

DOLMA CONTAINER and Isuzu are two of the 10 refrigerated truck manufacturers. They make a bunch of different kinds!

2025 Isuzu FTR: Big refrigerated box. It is cooled by a Thermo King T-690 refrigeration unit.
2025 Isuzu NPR-XD: This one has a handy lift gate to help load things.
Electric Refrigerated Trucks: Some new trucks are electric. They are good for the planet!
Refrigerated Van: some call these vans but they do all the work of the big trucks.

Explore similar technologies in our comparison of the Chengli Brand – Dongfeng D7 intelligent asphalt paver to understand how specialized trucks benefit different industries.

5. Looking Ahead: What’s New in 2025?

The refrigerated trucking industry is always changing!

New Tech: Technology helps drivers keep an eye on the cold chain. The temperature-control technology means your food and medicine are safe.
Companies that provide many types of truck services that include the refrigerated trucking services provides thefreight services
Fleet Optimization: Companies like Leonard’s Express are making their work more efficient…
Sustainability: People want trucks that are good for our Earth. Electric reefer trucks make less pollution.
Companies must abide by all of the regulatory changes set by law
Be sure to check on the best refrigeration unit for your business.

6. Reefer Speak: Let’s use the right words!

Here are some words you’ll hear when people talk about refrigerated trucks:

CDL Jobs: Many of these trucks need a special driver’s license because they are so big.
Freight Volume: How much stuff a truck can carry.
Refrigerated Freight: The cold goods carried by reefer trucks.
Truck Pre-Buying buying the trucks ahead of time .
LTL (Less- Than- Truckload)
Flatbed freight
Truckload Rate
Equipment prices keep going up.

7. Who Uses These Trucks?

Many business need cold chains with reefer trucks.

Food Companies: The “Winter Lettuce Capital of the World,” Yuma, Arizona, sends lots of lettuce around the country in refrigerated trucks.].
Drug Stores: To help keep the medicine fresh.
Big stores need reefers to fill up their freezers and cold sections.

8. A Few Problems They are Working On

Driver Shortage: It can be hard to find enough drivers for all the trucks!
Fuel Prices: Gas can cost a lot. This makes it expensive to run a big truck.
Keeping up with new rules:: Laws change, and trucking companies must make sure they follow all the rules.

9. Final Thoughts:

Refrigerated trucks connect our world. They take everything from salad greens to important medicine all across the country.
Refrigerated trucking is a very complex subject, and it appears our simple language requirement are making this difficult. Since our goal is to inform and explain topics, we’ll adjust to use slightly more advanced vocabulary while remaining as simple and clear as possible.