Refrigerated Van Development Rising in China

The demand for refrigerated products has been increasing as people’s living standards have improved. Refrigerated and insulated vans in China rose from over 30,000 in 2000 to more than 50,000 in 2010. The reinforcement of the cold chain logistics industry has also helped with the quick development.

Fridge vans are made to carry perishable goods at set temperatures. They can be ice-cooled, rigged with a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems powered by small displacement diesel engines, or utilize carbon dioxide as a cooling agent.

Factors to Consider When Buying a Refrigerated Truck

The Primary Product You Will Be Transporting

The product you are transporting in your fridge van and the product’s temperature requirement will be a key factor in purchasing. Your requirement for insulation will affect many of your choices. For example, transporting dairy products requires different specifications than transporting fresh vegetables.

How Are The Products Packaged

How your product is packaged is equally as important to what the product is. The packaging used for your products affects the airflow inside the refrigerated truck, for example. The airflow in your fridge van is essential in maintaining your product’s temperature throughout the course of the delivery day.

Product Weight and Cubic Feet

Determining the importance between the weight you’re carrying or the space you’ll fill is vital. What you are hauling and the commercial chassis you choose will help determine which refrigerated truck dimensions work best. The last thing you want is a fridge van that doesn’t have the capacity to fill what you’re trying to put into it. Vans have a capacity of below 3.5 T (tonnes), small trucks and trailers have a capacity that vary between 3.5 T to 7.5 T, and heavy trucks have a capacity of more than 7.5 T.

Plan in China

In June 2010, China issued a Cold Chain Logistics Development Plan for Agricultural Products to pinpoint that China should be rapidly developing refrigerated vans to raise the refrigerated transport rated of fruit and vegetable, meat and aquatic products to 65% in 2015. The plan is meant to encourage large-scale enterprises to purchase refrigerated vehicles. By 2015, the number of new refrigerated vans should reach 40,000.

Underdeveloped Market

The cold supply chain market in China is underdeveloped compared with developed countries. Throughout China, most perishable foods – such as meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and soybean products are shipped by non-refrigerated trucks. Pharmaceutical and biotech products are also transported through refrigerated road transport.

Lack of effective cold supply chain systems in China result in an estimated 20% to 40% food spoilage loss, valued at more than $65 billion annually. Increasing income levels and higher food safety demands are expected to drive a more sophisticated cold supply chain and the need for fridge vans.

The need for optimization of resources in cold chain are the growth drivers for the refrigerated road transport. The development of China’s road freight transport industry has become one of the main agendas for the policy makers. Major players, worldwide, are contemplating to enter the China refrigerated vehicles market owing to its untapped potential, and the European and American markets reaching its maturity.