What Affects Refrigerated Freight Rates?

Refrigerated freight rates are the costs to ship temperature-sensitive freight. This can include items like produce, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. Shipping rates for this type of freight can fluctuate on a weekly-basis due to various logistics and market factors. Understanding what affects refrigerated freight rates will help you accurately budget your shipping expenses and optimize your supply chain. 

What Factors Affect Refrigerated Freight Rates?

Factors that affect refrigerated freight rates include: 

• Distance and shipping lanes
• Produce season
• Fuel prices
• Reefer trailer availability
• Temperature requirements
• Market conditions

We’ll explain how each influences refrigerated freight rates in the next section. 

Distance

The distance a shipment has to travel, whether refrigerated or not, will affect your shipping rates. Longer distances typically correlate to higher rates for your shipments. You’ll also have to take into account the time-sensitivity of your refrigerated goods. 

Products like produce have an expiration date, even if they’re refrigerated. The urgency of your shipment combined with the distance it has to travel can result in a more expensive rate. 

Produce Season

Produce season increases the demand for reefer trailers. A reefer trailer is a trailer that’s used to transport temperature-sensitive freight like fruits and vegetables. When produce is harvested in major growing regions like California, the Midwest, the Southern U.S., and along the U.S.-Mexico border, thousands of seasonal loads enter the market. 

The increase in temperature-sensitive loads tightens capacity for reefer trailers and raises shipping rates. Produce seasons vary based on the time of year and geography. As shipments of fruits and vegetables in one region decrease, produce shipments will rise in other areas of the country. 

This means demand for reefer trailers will shift, causing capacity constraints and refrigerated shipping rates to fluctuate from region to region. 

Reefer Trailer Availability

The availability of reefer trailers affects your refrigerated shipment. There are already fewer reefer trailers available compared to dry vans, which makes them more sensitive to capacity constraints. If reefer capacity shrinks, carriers will charge higher prices. As more reefers become available, refrigerated shipping rates decrease. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides a Refrigerated Truck Dashboard to help shippers track availability. 

Fuel Prices 

Fuel prices, specifically diesel, is one of the most common operating expenses in the logistics industry. Diesel prices fluctuate due to geopolitical tensions, refinery and pipeline disruptions, and crude oil supply shifts. The price of diesel can also vary between regions in the United States. 

Carriers recover fuel price increases with fuel surcharges or higher freight rates. Unfortunately, refrigerated shipments are especially susceptible to rising fuel costs. The refrigeration units on a reefer trailer also consume fuel to function. This means refrigerated shipments consume more fuel, thus raising your costs. 

Temperature Requirements

Not all refrigerated freight can be kept at the same temperature. Some goods must be shipped frozen or maintain a narrow temperature range, while others only need standard refrigeration. 

More demanding temperature requirements increase the amount of fuel consumed by reefer units, which results in higher transportation costs.  

Market Conditions

Broader freight market conditions can influence refrigerated freight rates as well.

This includes:

• Seasonal shipping demand
• Economic activity
• Weather disruptions
• Driver availability
• Equipment shortages
• Regional freight imbalances 

Refrigerated freight is volatile to these conditions because it serves time-sensitive industries like agriculture, food distribution, and the medical field. Unexpected events can rapidly alter supply and demand for goods in these respective industries. 

What Information Do Carriers Need To Calculate Refrigerated Freight Rates?

In addition to standard shipment details like origin and destination, weight, dimensions, and handling requirements, you’ll need to provide the required temperature for a carrier to accurately calculate your refrigeration freight rates. We’ve provided a table of each piece of information you’ll need to provide and why they’re important.

Since reefer rates are typically more expensive, ensuring you have the right information so your carrier can give you an accurate rate is essential. 

How Can Shippers Lower Refrigerated Freight Costs?

Shippers of refrigerated freight can lower their costs by consolidating shipments, reducing dwell times, and improving shipment forecasting. 

Here’s how each one works:

• Consolidate Shipments - Freight consolidation is a logistics strategy where smaller loads from various shippers are combined into a single, larger shipment. In the context of refrigerated freight shipping, you can consolidate compatible perishable goods that share the same temperature-sensitive cargo requirements. 
• Reduce Dwell Times - Dwell time is the total amount of time a transport vehicle spends at a facility while waiting to load, unload, or process cargo. Running efficient dock operations and preparing paperwork in advance will reduce your dwell times and ensure loading and unloading of your goods goes smoothly.
• Improve Shipment Forecasting - Shipment forecasting is a data-driven process that predicts future shipping volumes and transportation needs based on historical data, market trends, and consumer demand. You can use this information to avoid last minute shipments and book ahead of time. Giving your carrier enough time to plan your route and secure capacity guarantees a more affordable rate.    
• Use the Right Shipping Mode - Your shipping mode is the method of transportation shippers use to move their refrigerated freight. Viable shipping methods include less-than truckload (LTL), partial truckload, or intermodal. Selecting the right mode that fits the volume of perishable goods your shipping prevents you from paying for unused trailer space or services you don’t need.

Using these methods will not only help you lower your refrigerated freight rates, but also help improve your logistics networks. 

What Mistakes Increase Refrigerated Shipping Costs?

Mistakes that can raise your refrigerated shipping costs include booking freight at the last minute, providing inaccurate shipment information, ignoring cold chain best practices, and requesting a colder temperature than necessary. We’ve provided a graphic to give you more information about how these mistakes can increase your expenses. 

The biggest mistake you can make is shipping refrigerated freight with an unreliable carrier. USA Refrigerated Freight has a trustworthy network of carriers with the driver and reefer units you need to transport your perishable goods. Fill out your quote today or contact us at (866) 849-4923 for more information about our services. 

Sources:

19 Crops That Are Grown Only in California, CA Grown Blog, 2023

Refrigerated Truck Dashboard, United States Department of Agriculture, 2026