"How Is Reefer?"...

well... i hate to start off on the negative, but i'm one of those guys that did NOT like pulling a reefer. i did it for 6 months when i first started driving.
1.) trying to sleep with that noisy son of a gun running or starting in the middle of the night, though i understand they're alot quieter nowadays.

2.) maintenance, i had one trailer i pulled across the country with frozen product that kept shutting down for some reason, i was lucky to make it to delivery with my load still frozen.

3) pallets, seemed like i was constantly running around trying to find pallets i needed or had to get rid of before i could pick-up my next load.

4.) washouts, just like pallets, running around trying to find a facility to wash the muck out because the last load in the trailer was bulk potatoes ( what a nasty, stinking mess)

i know...WAAAAAH! and i only did it for 6 months. then i started pulling a dry box and most of the things i didn't like about reefers was gone.
i'm sure there are positives, i just don't know what they are.

 

While I think Roehl is a decent company to start with, I would stay away from the reefer portion of the company. They bought Bloome Trucking and from what I hear the transition to Roehl has not been a smooth one. You may wind up pulling dry van anyway since I hear their loads are sporatic in the refrigerated division.

 

When I was in trucking school,they said reefers companys pull more than dry vans.The reason was becouse reefers can be used as dry vans if needed.

 

This is true to a point. Reefers are narrower, and most of the time shorter in length and height, and they are heavier so they can't haul everything a dry van can. Mostly the inside dimentions are smaller because of insulation.

 

I liked running reefer.
I never had an issue with pallets. If I had some left on the trailer I would dump them. never had to buy any.
The hum of the reefer would put me to sleep at night and cover the noises of all the other trucks.
Freight was steady. If we had to take a brokered dry load to get back to a good area, it was never a problem.
I really don't think they are any smaller inside than a box. They just made them wider and an inch or so longer, to compensate. You can still get two 4' pallets in them side by side with no issue at all. I also never had to unload a load. If it was not done by the company, then eather they had a lumper service available, or I would contact one. Though at most places that lumpers had to be hired, the company had a service that I was to call, that gave good rates.

I am on flatbed now, and it is allot of extra work. Allot of things besides just getting the load down the road to worry about. I have lost 20+ pounds in the last 6 weeks though.

 

Inside width is only 2 inches narrower or so. Outside width being the same, a reefer will be smaller on the inside due to insulation. Not so bad you would really notice. Length wise is different. 53' vans are usually around 52'10" or so in actual length. Most reefers are around 51' because of the extra length needed for the reefer itself. Add the weight off the reefer, the insulation and fuel/fuel tank, and reefers can't haul quite as much weight.

 

If you really want to pull reefers I would look for a specialized reefer company, like May or Central Refrigerated, etc. Stay away from C.R.England. Get good training.

 

The issue I noticed with weight didn't revolve so much around the weight of the trailer. Instead, the big deciding factor was the weight of the tractor. I could generally haul about 45,000 in a reefer trailer with my 379. I happened to stop next to a newer .. Columbia, I think - and noticed that the GVW and GVWR limited that truck to 40,000

Inside dimensions ARE a tad smaller on a reefer - but not enough so to make a darn bit of difference in real terms.

The one dimension that is significant - at least at May - is that the reefers are a foot shorter (from road to roof) than the dry vans.

I'm not convinced that the 53' trailer is any different lengthwise between reefer and dry - the reefer bulges into the space over the catwalk. WIth a dry van, that space is nice and open. When I was hauling a reefer (in particular the one time I couldn't get it refueled in time) I noticed that space is cramped. makes pushing that primer pump a bear when you are my size.

Noise is definitely going to vary from trailer to trailer. Some of the ones I pulled were so quiet I'd wake up in the middle of the night thinking it had shut off. Others, I'd want to pull in next to a running jet to drown it out.