Reefer Dispatch Services for Refrigerated Carriers
Temperature-controlled freight punishes small mistakes. A MetaSys dispatcher agrees the setpoint, the mode, and the pre-cool terms in writing before you accept, plans your weeks around where produce season actually is, and takes the call when a receiver rejects. Part of MetaSys truck dispatch.
A reefer load is not a dry van load with a thermostat.
Talk to a dispatcher30-minute call. No commitment.
Reefer pays more because more can go wrong.
Loaded warm, blamed at the door
A shipper loads product that was never pre-cooled, then the receiver pulps it and calls it your problem. Product loaded warm does not cool down in transit.
Continuous or cycle, decided by nobody
The rate confirmation says a setpoint and stops there. Run cycle on a load that required continuous and your own download becomes the evidence against you.
Rejections you find out about at the dock
A rejected load is a truck sitting loaded with product nobody will sign for. Every hour after that is spent hunting a reconsignment while the unit burns fuel.
Produce season leaves without you
The freight moves north through the year and then comes back down. Book a week at a time and you end up parked in a market that emptied two weeks ago.
Washouts between commodity changes
Raw protein into a produce load with no documented washout ends the conversation with any serious broker. Finding a wash bay at 10 PM is not a driver's job.
Claims exposure a dry van never had
A trailer of beef or seafood is worth many times a load of paper goods. One temperature excursion becomes a cargo claim, and the paperwork decides who pays.
Brokers who will not risk reefer freight on a new authority
A blown setpoint does not damage part of a load, it spoils all of it, and the broker who books that trailer owns the claim if you cannot cover it. A new MC number with no reefer history gets passed over before your rate is even on the table.
The work that starts before you accept the load.
Temperature terms before you accept
Setpoint, continuous or cycle mode, pre-cool requirement, and pulp tolerance get confirmed with the broker and written onto the rate confirmation. A verbal temperature is not a temperature.
Pre-cool and load-time coordination
We book enough time ahead of the appointment for the trailer to pull down, and we tell the shipper in advance when the product itself has to be pre-cooled. The argument you avoid at the receiver starts here.
Produce season lane planning
We plan your weeks around where the season actually is, not where it was. That means repositioning ahead of a region opening and lining up the backhaul before you take the load in.
Appointments, lumpers, and detention
Produce houses receive on their own schedule, often overnight, and most of them charge lumpers. We book the window, agree lumper terms up front, and file detention with the broker when the dock runs long.
Rejection, reconsignment, and claim support
If a receiver rejects, we go to work immediately. Pull the download, notify the broker in writing, and push for a second receiver or salvage instead of a loaded truck going nowhere.
Washouts and food-safety records
We schedule washouts between commodity changes and keep the wash tickets, temperature downloads, and signed bills of lading together per load, so an FSMA sanitary transport request is answered the same day.
The produce belt moves. Your lanes should move with it.
Florida, South Texas, Nogales
Winter vegetables, citrus, and Mexican crossings through Pharr and Nogales. Strong northbound freight, thin backhauls, and a lot of carriers chasing the same outbound.
Georgia, the Carolinas, California desert
Vidalia onions, berries, and the first Imperial and Coachella Valley volume. Capacity tightens fast when two regions open in the same week.
California Central Valley and Salinas
Stone fruit, grapes, melons, and lettuce. The longest and heaviest stretch of the reefer year, and the one where appointment discipline decides whether you get reloaded.
Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Michigan
Apples out of Yakima and Wenatchee, potatoes out of Idaho, and Michigan produce. Long eastbound runs that need a planned return, not a hopeful one.
Florida, Texas, and the import ports
Holiday grocery restock, imported produce moving inland from the ports, and frozen volume that books earlier every year. Appointment windows get shorter, not longer.
Seasonal freight rewards carriers who are already in the region when it opens and punishes the ones who arrive after the rates settle. That is planning work, and it happens a week or two ahead of the truck. Carriers who would rather have that planning run as a system can look at MetaSys AI Dispatch, which is in early access and built on the same AI and intelligent automation work MetaSys does outside freight.
Talk to a Reefer DispatcherAll 48 states, and a dispatcher who knows your setpoint.
Written onto every reefer rate confirmation
A temperature agreed on the phone is not a term. If it is not on the rate confirmation, it does not exist when the claim is reviewed.
From your carrier packet to a booked reefer load.
Send your carrier packet
MC and DOT numbers, W-9, certificate of insurance with your cargo limit, and your reefer unit make, model, and engine hours.
Broker setup and equipment profile
We set you up across our broker network and record what you will and will not haul. Refused commodities are captured once, then applied to every load.
First load with terms in writing
Most carriers are dispatched within a day or two of finishing onboarding. The temperature terms are agreed before you are asked to accept anything.
Weekly lane and season review
Every week we look at where the season is heading and reposition you ahead of it. You approve the plan before we book against it.
Every commodity a reefer carries, and the plan for when one gets rejected.
Freight we dispatch on a reefer
- Fresh produce out of the growing regions, including overnight receive windows and heavy lumper docks
- Meat, poultry, and seafood, where the temperature discipline is tighter and the claim value is higher
- Dairy, eggs, and refrigerated deli, usually shorter lanes on strict appointment windows
- Frozen and ice cream, which needs a unit that holds deep temperature and a driver who keeps the doors shut
- Beverage, floral, and confectionery, which move protected rather than deeply chilled
- Dry freight in a clean reefer, which is a legitimate backhaul when the broker agrees it in writing
Temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical freight needs validated equipment and a separate qualification process, so we scope it with you before quoting rather than after.
When a receiver rejects a load
- Stop and document. The download comes off the unit before anything moves, along with photos of the seal, the setpoint, and the load.
- Notify in writing. The broker gets the rejection, the download, and the time it happened in one message, not a phone call nobody remembers.
- Push for reconsignment. Rejected product is often still saleable. A second receiver resolves it faster and cheaper than a claim does.
- Protect the claim. If a claim is unavoidable, the rate confirmation, the download, and the notations on the bill of lading decide it.
- Get the truck earning again. Detention and TONU charges get billed, and we reload you rather than leaving you parked on the outcome.
Reefer is one of the equipment types MetaSys dispatches. If you run mixed equipment, or you park the reefer for part of the year, the same dispatch team covers dry van, flatbed, power only, hotshot, and box truck freight on the same terms.
Questions reefer carriers ask before the first load
How is reefer dispatch different from dry van dispatch?
Reefer dispatch adds temperature to every decision. Before a load is accepted, the setpoint, continuous or cycle mode, pre-cool requirement, and pulp tolerance have to be agreed with the broker and written onto the rate confirmation. The dispatcher also plans around produce season, schedules washouts between commodity changes, and keeps the temperature download with the paperwork.
Does MetaSys dispatch produce loads during the season?
Yes. MetaSys dispatchers plan your weeks around where the season actually is, from the winter Florida, South Texas, and Nogales crossings through the California Central Valley in summer and the Pacific Northwest apple and Idaho potato runs in autumn. We position you ahead of a region opening and work the backhaul before you take the inbound load.
Who handles it when a receiver rejects a reefer load?
Your dispatcher does. We pull the temperature download before anything moves, notify the broker in writing with the time of rejection, and push for reconsignment or salvage rather than leaving a truck sitting loaded. If a claim follows, the rate confirmation, the download, and the notations on the bill of lading decide it, so we get those right at pickup.
Do you set the trailer to continuous or cycle mode?
The shipper's requirement sets it and the driver runs it. What a dispatcher does is make the broker state the mode before you accept, then put it on the rate confirmation. Fresh protein shippers commonly require continuous. Running cycle on a load that required continuous turns your own download into the evidence against you.
What paperwork do brokers want on a temperature-controlled load?
A signed rate confirmation carrying the temperature terms, the bill of lading with any notations made at pickup and delivery, the temperature download from the unit, and a wash ticket when the trailer changed commodity. The FSMA sanitary transport rule lets a shipper ask for those records, so MetaSys keeps them together per load.
Do reefer loads pay more than dry van loads?
Reefer freight generally posts higher than dry van on the same lane, because the equipment costs more to buy, run, and fuel, and more of the risk sits with the carrier. The gap is not free money. It pays for reefer fuel, washouts, longer load times, and claim exposure. Negotiating every load is how you keep it.
What do I need to start reefer dispatch with MetaSys?
Your MC and DOT numbers, a W-9, a certificate of insurance showing your cargo limit, and your reefer unit details including make, model, and engine hours. Tell us which commodities you refuse and how you handle washouts. Onboarding takes about 24 hours, and most carriers are dispatched within 48 hours of finishing it.
Can a brand new authority haul reefer freight?
Yes. Reefer freight carries real cargo-claim exposure, so brokers are more cautious than usual about handing temperature-sensitive loads to an authority with no track record. MetaSys builds your carrier packet, gets you approved with brokers who onboard new authorities for reefer freight, and works your first loads toward the history that opens up the rest of the network.
What are the temperature compliance requirements for reefer freight?
The setpoint, mode (continuous or cycle), and pre-cool requirement need to be agreed with the broker and written on the rate confirmation before you accept the load. The FSMA sanitary transport rule lets a shipper request the signed rate confirmation, bill of lading notations, the temperature download from the unit, and a wash ticket when the trailer changed commodity, so keeping those four documents together per load is the real compliance requirement, not just running the right setpoint.
How does reefer dispatch differ from dry van dispatch beyond temperature?
Reefer adds washouts between commodity changes, produce-season lane planning, and rejection handling that dry van dispatch never has to deal with. It also carries more cargo-claim exposure, which is why reefer freight generally posts higher than dry van on the same lane and why brokers are more cautious handing reefer loads to a brand new authority.
Related Pages
Other Equipment We Dispatch
Further Reading
How Logistics Companies Are Using AI for DispatchPut a dispatcher on your reefer this week
Book a call and walk away with a lane plan for the season ahead, the temperature terms we will hold brokers to, and a start date. A dispatcher follows up within one business day.