Frozen Freight

Frozen freight operates at the strictest end of the cold chain spectrum. Products like frozen meals, ice cream, frozen produce, meat, seafood, and frozen baby food must stay at or below 0�F from production through final delivery. Even brief temperature excursions – a few degrees above threshold for a short time – can cause partial thawing, ice crystal formation, and texture or safety degradation that renders the product unsaleable or unsafe. There's no "close enough" in frozen logistics.

The operational requirements for frozen freight are more demanding than refrigerated. Trailers must be pre-cooled to target temperature before loading – typically requiring 60–90 minutes of idle run time. Loading and unloading must happen at frozen-capable dock doors with minimal ambient air exposure. Cold storage facilities maintain separate frozen zones, often at -10�F to -20�F, and transfers between zones must be tightly timed. Continuous temperature data logging is standard, and many receivers require the temperature download before they'll accept delivery.

Frozen freight also carries higher costs across the board. Reefer fuel consumption is greater at frozen temperatures, carrier capacity for frozen is tighter than for refrigerated, and cold storage warehousing rates are higher for frozen zones than chilled zones. The insurance and claims exposure is also elevated – a rejected frozen load is a complete loss, and frozen products tend to be higher value per pound than ambient goods. For DTC frozen food brands scaling rapidly, these costs compound quickly as volume grows.

Managing frozen freight successfully requires more than just selecting a reefer carrier. It means coordinating pre-cool timing with pickup schedules, ensuring dock appointments align with frozen loading capabilities, monitoring temperature continuously in transit, and confirming that receiving facilities are prepared for immediate frozen intake. Every handoff is a potential failure point, and the penalty for failure is product loss.