Recommendation for a Reefer trailer, length, zones, floor, etc...

Well if you're going to be doing regular TL...a Multi Zone unit won't do you much good.

 

What are you going to haul. Ice cream, produce, beef or just whatever you can put on it? I don't see what good a multitemp would do. Mostly food warehouses is who runs them.

 

53' is required by many shippers, IMO a 48' unit is really only something I'd look at if I were spending a lot of time in the older eastern cities. 102" wide is pretty much standard now.

 

This is no different that asking what brand of truck to buy, you will get for the most part biased answers. I haven't pulled a refeer for better than two years but I always preferred the Thermo King over the Carrier, they (at the time) used less fuel and ran quieter. I liked the Greatdane better than a Utility, it seemed better built, the doors closed better, and it just looked better in the mirrors. If I was going to buy one it would be a 53', to many shippers require that, but a lot of guys have 48' and have no trouble keeping them loaded. You need to let is know what you are going to be hauling in it, a lot of frozen, or meat and produce?

 

Have you ever driven a truck before, do you have any industry experience?

 

53' gives you more options to haul than a 48'. Not all food-grade loads can fit into a 48' trailer. Sometimes they're mixed loads that can be spread out. And there is a lot of lighter foods that will load 28-30 pallets.

You do not need a multi-zone. That would be an entire waste of money. You very rarely will be able to assemble a multi-partial to make it work. Usually that's something a broker may look into and arrange themselves into one load.

You want a grooved floor. The flatter floor is for local delivery mostly. Sometimes you will have loads that are on slip sheets. They will not load that on a non-grooved floor. No air circulation otherwise.

As for type of reefer, that's a personal preference. I prefer Carrier. I had an old Great Dane that developed side bulge (reason I had to get rid of it). It apparently is a problem they had, so I don't know how the new ones handle. I have a Utility, but they do have an issue you'll notice of the rear by the door will crumple from hitting docks too hard. So, be careful. No opinion on Hyundai, Wabash, etc.

 

Have had good luck with most brands ( trailer / reefer unit ) over the years but then again depends on how they were treated by previous owners. Older Great Danes were a bit heavier than the utilitys.

Today 53'air ride , grooved floor is the most common

 

also you need to remember there is no such thing as a one size fits all trailer when it comes to reefers. they are built differently depending on what the original owner specced it for. frozen food/ chilled foods/produce/flowers being the 4 most common. If you will be pulling mostly frozen meat(-10 to-20 degrees) you don't want to buy a trailer that was designed to keep flowers at 40 degrees.