How much does reefer dispatch cost?

5% of gross for one reefer, 4% each for two or more, and 7% while your MC is under 6 months old, dropping on its own. Only on loads you accept and haul. Reefers pay the same rates as every other unit we dispatch.

Is a reefer fleet more profitable than dry van?

Not automatically. Reefer loads often pay more per mile, but the reefer unit burns fuel, needs maintenance and adds claim risk, and appointments are tighter. Whether the extra rate covers the extra cost depends on your lanes and your costs. The cost card on this page shows the gross a reefer unit needs each week.

What does a reefer unit cost to run?

Two lines most owners underestimate: reefer fuel, which depends on run hours, setpoint and weather, and reefer maintenance. Add them to the tractor's costs and work out the weekly gross needed to break even. Use your own fuel records; burn rates vary a lot between units.

Can a new MC get reefer loads?

Yes, but expect more vetting. Food shippers and brokers often ask for higher cargo coverage, reefer breakdown coverage and a clean record. A new authority usually starts with brokers that onboard new carriers and with less sensitive commodities.

How do you handle detention on reefer loads?

We log arrival and departure times as they happen and file the claim under the rate con's terms. Reefer receivers can keep trucks waiting for hours, and while the truck waits, the unit keeps burning fuel, so detention matters more for reefers than for most freight.

Who pays lumper fees?

The rate confirmation decides. Grocery and food receivers often use lumpers, usually reimbursed by the broker with a receipt. We confirm lumper terms before you approve the load and collect the receipt after delivery.

REEFER DISPATCH

Reefer dispatch for trucks where every hour on the clock burns fuel twice

A refrigerated truck pays for its diesel twice: once to move and once to keep the box cold. That makes reefer dispatch less forgiving. Tight appointments, long waits at receivers and loads into produce country with no way back all cost more when the unit is running. Our desk plans around all of it, and you approve every load.

Dispatch my reefers

TRACTOR FUEL + REEFER FUEL + REEFER MAINTENANCE

UNIT 02

Refrigerated truck dispatch: quick answers

How much does reefer dispatch cost?: 5% of gross for one reefer, 4% each for two or more, and 7% while your MC is under 6 months old, dropping on its own. Only on loads you accept and haul. Reefers pay the same rates as every other unit we dispatch.
Is a reefer fleet more profitable than dry van?: Not automatically. Reefer loads often pay more per mile, but the reefer unit burns fuel, needs maintenance and adds claim risk, and appointments are tighter. Whether the extra rate covers the extra cost depends on your lanes and your costs. The cost card on this page shows the gross a reefer unit needs each week.
What does a reefer unit cost to run?: Two lines most owners underestimate: reefer fuel, which depends on run hours, setpoint and weather, and reefer maintenance. Add them to the tractor's costs and work out the weekly gross needed to break even. Use your own fuel records; burn rates vary a lot between units.
Can a new MC get reefer loads?: Yes, but expect more vetting. Food shippers and brokers often ask for higher cargo coverage, reefer breakdown coverage and a clean record. A new authority usually starts with brokers that onboard new carriers and with less sensitive commodities.
How do you handle detention on reefer loads?: We log arrival and departure times as they happen and file the claim under the rate con's terms. Reefer receivers can keep trucks waiting for hours, and while the truck waits, the unit keeps burning fuel, so detention matters more for reefers than for most freight.
Who pays lumper fees?: The rate confirmation decides. Grocery and food receivers often use lumpers, usually reimbursed by the broker with a receipt. We confirm lumper terms before you approve the load and collect the receipt after delivery.

UNIT 03

What a reefer unit must gross each week

Put in your miles, fuel and costs. The card shows the weekly gross that breaks even, and the gross for the margin you want.

Loading the reefer cost card

The reefer lines are where owners coming from dry van get surprised. A unit running most of the week burns fuel even when the truck is parked at a receiver, and the hours add up faster on hot days and with frozen setpoints. The maintenance reserve covers the unit itself: compressors, belts, sensors and the service intervals the maker sets.

Once you know your break-even per mile, you know which offers are worth a yes. That number goes on the unit's rules card as the floor rate, and the desk screens offers against it before they reach you. For the tractor side in more detail, use our trucking cost per mile calculator.

UNIT 04

How a reefer dispatcher plans the week

Before the offer
Temperature and commodity
Setpoint, continuous or cycle, and any pulp-temperature or pre-cool requirement checked on the rate con.
Before pickup
Pre-cool and appointment
Pickup time set so the trailer is at temperature when the doors open, with drive time and hours checked.
In transit
Check calls and temps
Updates to the broker, and early warning if the unit or the schedule has a problem.
At the receiver
Times logged
Arrival and departure recorded for detention; lumper receipt collected.
Before delivery
Reload lined up
Next load planned so the truck isn't sitting empty with the unit off and the clock running.

Reefer freight follows seasons and regions. Produce moves in waves from growing areas, and the loads coming back out of those areas don't always pay. A reefer dispatcher who books the outbound without thinking about the return leaves your truck in the wrong place at the wrong time. We plan the pair.

Appointments are tighter than in dry van, and receivers are less forgiving. The desk sets pickup times that leave room for pre-cooling and legal drive time, so you're not approving a delivery window your driver can't make without breaking hours of service.

We also watch which receivers keep trucks waiting. A load that pays well into a facility known for long waits may net less than a smaller load with a quick unload, once you count the hours and the reefer fuel. You'll see that on the offer.

And when the unit itself acts up, the desk hears about it first. We'll tell the broker early, find a repair shop on the route, and work the schedule, instead of letting a temperature alarm turn into a rejected load.

UNIT 05

When a reefer should haul dry freight

A reefer trailer can haul dry loads with the unit off. Done well, that's one of the best tools a reefer dispatcher has.

The reload problem

Produce regions ship plenty of refrigerated freight out at harvest and little of it back in. A reefer that delivers into one of those areas can sit for a day waiting for a cold load, or take a dry load home and get moving. With the unit off, a dry load costs the same to run as in a van.

Soft reefer markets

When reefer rates drop toward dry van rates, the premium that pays for the unit disappears. In those weeks, keeping a reefer on dry freight in lanes where it repositions for the next good cold load can beat chasing thin reefer offers.

What to check first

Some shippers won't load dry freight into a trailer that just carried food, and some food shippers won't load after certain dry commodities. Washouts take time and money. We check the previous load and the shipper's rules before an offer reaches you, and we never put food behind a load that would contaminate the trailer.

UNIT 06

Temperature records and claims

A rejected reefer load is expensive: the receiver refuses product, the shipper files a claim, and your cargo coverage gets a look. Most of those disputes turn on paperwork. The setpoint written on the bill of lading, the temperature the unit held, and whether the product was loaded at the right temperature in the first place.

We check that the BOL setpoint matches the rate con before the driver leaves the shipper, and we ask drivers to note pulp temperatures when the shipper allows it. If a dispute comes, you have the records instead of a driver's memory.

Insurance is your side of the picture. Reefer freight often calls for higher cargo limits and for coverage of reefer breakdown, which standard cargo policies may exclude. Ask your agent what yours covers before you haul food. We match loads to the coverage you carry, so you're not approving freight your policy won't back.

This is general information, not insurance advice. Your agent and policy wording decide what's covered.

UNIT 07

What reefer dispatch costs

NEW AUTHORITY

MC under 6 months, any equipment

SINGLE UNIT

1 truck, MC 6+ months

FLEET

2+ trucks, MC 6+ months

EXAMPLE A $3,100 reefer load costs $124 in dispatch on a two-truck fleet and $155 for a single reefer. Nothing on loads you pass on, nothing in weeks a truck doesn't haul. Full details are on the dispatch rates page.

Make the reefer unit pay for itself

Tell us what you run and where. A reefer dispatcher calls back, sets each truck's floor from its real costs, and brings you offers to approve.

4% for 2+ trucks, 5% for one, 7% while your MC is new