REEFERS

Specialty trailer orders show strength as vans and reefers lag

Improving orders for specialty trailers mostly account for two consecutive months of improving equipment bookings. The pace of dry and refrigerated trailers orders lagged.

October U.S. trailer net orders rose by more than 6,000 units over September, their highest level since December 2022. Still, the 34,400 orders reported by FTR Transportation Intelligence were down about 21% compared to October a year ago.

Manufacturers built about 4% more trailers in October than September. But trailing net...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/specialty-trailer-orders-show-strength-as-vans-and-reefers-lag

Is Range Energy’s electrification push the future of trailers?

Making the cooling units on refrigerated trucks run on electricity instead of diesel saves fuel and reduces emissions. Startup Range Energy is betting investor money that trailer electrification can do more than just prevent liquified ice cream from arriving at the grocery store.

“What we’re doing is bringing all of the electrification that you see happening in vehicles and in power units to the trailer,” said Ali Javidan, Range Energy founder and CEO and former head of vehicle prototyping at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-range-energys-electrification-push-the-future-of-trailers

Check call: Making those trailer moves

people gathered around a desk of computers. Check Call news and analysis for 3pls and brokers

Some parts of the country are experiencing versions of springtime for the first, second or third time this year (if your weather keeps changing between freezing rain and 60 degrees — looking at you, Missouri and Illinois), and with that come things to get you out of the house. It’s the best time of the year when the sun comes out, but it’s still a little too early to do any real yardwork. 

All of this to say the best way to get out of the house is joining the first IN-PERSON FreightWaves event...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/check-call-making-those-trailer-moves

From ice cream delivery to pharmaceutical transport, reefers wear many hats

Refrigerated trucks, or reefer trucks as they are known in the trucking industry, play a vital role in the supply chain.

Reefers keep perishable commodities at controlled temperatures to prevent heat and bacteria from ruining them. There are some highly specialized refrigeration units that reportedly go as low as minus 85.

Reefers haul mostly food and pharmaceuticals — everything from fresh produce to frozen meats, medicine to medical plasma. Sometimes reefers pick up boxed fresh citrus or...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/from-ice-cream-delivery-to-pharmaceutical-transport-reefers-wear-many-hats

Roaring reefer freight rates freezing out perishables from the shelves

The rise and rise of reefer freight rates means fewer choices on supermarket shelves as some perishable products are priced out of the market.
Furthermore, a lack of available containers is creating “tough times” for many reefer shippers and their import partners, according to a reefer market update by DHL Global Forwarding.
It said: “A lot of places in the world at the moment lack reefer equipment. Additionally, dry container rates keep increasing …

The post Roaring reefer freight rates...

https://theloadstar.com/roaring-reefer-freight-rates-freezing-out-perishables-from-the-shelves/

FreightWaves Classics: Refrigeration helped railroads move fresh food nationwide (Part 2)

Swift and Company refrigerator cars on multiple sidings. (Photo: trains.com)

If you missed Part 1 of this article, here is a link.

Improving refrigerator railcars

Early wooden refrigerator railcars required insulation to help protect their contents from extremes in temperature. “Hairfelt” was compressed cattle hair, placed into the floor and walls of a railcar. It was inexpensive (a byproduct of the slaughtering process), yet quite flawed. Hairfelt would last three to four years, but it would decay, which rotted the car’s wooden partitions and often tainted the cargo...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-classics-refrigeration-helped-railroads-move-fresh-food-nationwide-part-2

’Tis the season: Harvest haulers stress an already tight market

At the close of every summer, the trucking industry gears up for harvest season, which traditionally contributes to a further tightening of capacity ⁠— for a couple of reasons. Owner-operators who also own farms remove their trucking capacity from the market for over a month to harvest produce and deliver it to market. 

Additionally, to ensure the extra capacity needed during harvest season, brokers use a dedicated group of carriers to haul oranges, watermelons, avocados, corn, cotton or...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/tis-the-season-harvest-haulers-stress-an-already-tight-market

Wabash National bets big on dry vans, increases capacity by 20%

Wabash National Corp. is ramping down traditional refrigerated capacity and converting the floor space to add 20% more dry vans by 2023, counting on freight demand lasting well beyond the current peak.

“As we think about the past, present and future of our manufacturing footprint, we have found ourselves with demand [that] has exceeded physical capacity for the production of dry vans,” CEO Brent Yeagy said Wednesday on the company’s Q2 call with analysts.

Building dry vans to address demand...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wabash-national-bets-big-on-dry-vans-increases-capacity-by-20

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