Refrigerated vans are essential for transporting a variety of goods, such as frozen and chilled food, fresh fruit and vegetables, medication, some cosmetics, and more. Chilled and frozen products must complete a ‘cold chain’ before they can be sold to or used by the customer to ensure they are safe to be distributed. During transportation, refrigerated vehicles make keeping frozen and chilled products safe from production to distribution a lot easier.
What is the Cold Chain?
The cold chain is something that is used when it comes to guaranteeing quality for frozen and chilled goods, such as food and some medications. The chain begins with the product being moved from its natural environment – such as taking a fish from the sea or medication from a laboratory. The basic idea of a cold chain is to make sure an item remains at a consistent temperature from point of origin to distribution throughout each stage of the journey to ensure it is arriving as fresh as the moment its journey started.
Seafood Cold Chain
When it is freshly caught, the quality of the product is high. As time passes, this quality deteriorates as the fish begins to decay, which is caused by the vitamins and minerals within the body breaking down. At this point, it’s not good to eat and in some cases, it can be extremely dangerous to consume spoiled seafood.
Fresh seafood should be stored at 0 degrees and frozen should be kept at -18 degrees or lower throughout the complete chain. A change in temperature of even 1 degrees can impact the quality of the product and cause food wastage, which in turn leads to time and effort spent harvesting and transporting the product a waste also.
Pharmaceutical Cold Chain
The cold chain is a basic requirement for the transportation of pharmaceutical goods, such as vaccines and some medications. With the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of stocking vaccines and making sure they’re usable. Vaccines are especially sensitive to both heat and freezing and need to be kept at a precise temperature throughout the journey from origin to destination.
Temperature sensitive vaccines should be kept between 2 and 8 degrees in a cold room or refrigerator – making refrigerated vans an ideal solution for transport – or between -15 and -25C in a freezer. The temperatures of refrigerated vans can be adjusted accordingly to suit transportation needs.
How Your Refrigerated Van Helps The Cold Chain
The temperature of a standard refrigerated fridge van ranges from 0 to 8 degrees while freezer refrigerated vans tend to be -18 degrees. Your van can be easily adapted to suit the needs of your business, whether you courier food or pharmaceuticals, or any other product that requires the cold chain before sale.
The make of the van isn’t particularly important as most are adaptable to fit specific needs and here at BHRV, we stock a variety of both new and used refrigerated vans from trusted manufacturers, such as Ford, Volkswagen, Citroen, Mercedes, and Renault, giving you a range of options to choose from.
Will My Refrigerated Van be Enough?
These vehicles are designed with the transportation of chilled and frozen goods in mind, so the standard models are typically already fully equipped with everything required to ensure the standards of the cold chain are met. However, conversions can be made if required, such as:
Additional Racking: To provide extra storage space for larger deliveries, there are a number of racking options available to suit whatever you’re transporting.
Electric Standby: Allowing you to plug in your van to a mains supply to let you keep your goods refrigerated while the van is off for extended periods.
Strip Curtains: Which are designed to provide insulation and maintain cool temperatures during loading and unloading of the vehicle, whether in summer or winter.
Generally, newer models of refrigerated vans are better adapted, but speak to a member of our team at BHRV for more information about how refrigerated vans can be adjusted to suit your requirements. It’s also essential you keep on top of repairs and know when its time to replace your refrigerated van to ensure your goods get from A to B in good condition, though you have the option of replacing your vehicle with a new or used refrigerated van that can be converted to suit your requirements.
Want to know more? BHRV is here to help!
Trying to find a refrigerated vehicle that is suitable for cold chain specifications may seem daunting. Our team at BHRV are industry experts when it comes to supplying refrigerated vans for the transportation of goods. If you have any questions about the role refrigerated vans have to play in the cold chain or if you’re looking for advice and guidance before committing to a purchase, we’re here to help! Get in touch with us now, we can’t wait to hear from you!