Reefer (Refrigerated Trailer — temperature-controlled trailer)
FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act — U.S. food safety law for shippers/carriers)
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points — food safety management system)
FTL (Full Truckload — a full trailer booked for a single shipper/load)
Food producers live and die by freshness windows, temperature integrity, and receiver appointments. The right refrigerated transportation partner protects shelf life and brand reputation while keeping your costs predictable. In this guide, our team shares how to evaluate carriers for long-haul FTL moves in the U.S. — focusing on practical checks you can run before you tender a load. We’ll be transparent about our own methods, too: 53’ single-zone reefers, 98–99% on-time performance, real-time tracking, and documented sanitation between sensitive commodities.
Start with Temperature Control You Can Prove
Pre-cool, Maintain, Verify
Temperature control isn’t a promise; it’s a process you should be able to audit. We run the newest reefer units available, with modern engines and compressors that meet the highest standards. Before loading, we pre-cool to the shipper-specified setpoint and verify airflow is unobstructed. During transit, we maintain continuous temperature monitoring and retain the data. If your QA team requests temperature records at delivery, we can provide logs along with the proof of delivery (POD).
What to ask any carrier:
Do you pre-cool and document trailer setpoint before loading?
Is temperature monitored continuously, and can you share the record on request?
How do you validate airflow and avoid hot spots (e.g., proper pallet spacing, no blockage of return air)?
Single-Zone vs. Multi-Zone — What Producers Really Need
You’ll see multi-zone units mentioned often. They’re common for local store delivery with mixed-temperature SKUs. For over-the-road FTL, most food producers book 53’ single-zone trailers at a uniform setpoint — ideal for one temperature band and one shipper’s freight. That’s our fleet profile. If you truly need multiple bands simultaneously over short distances, multi-zone can make sense. But for long-haul integrity, a single zone with excellent controls is usually the straightest path to consistent results.
Quick rule of thumb:
Long-haul, one temp band → 53’ single-zone FTL (our wheelhouse)
Local/multi-stop, mixed bands → multi-zone (typically smaller box trucks or regional runs)
Food Safety & Sanitation (FSMA/HACCP) Without the Jargon
Sanitary Transportation Rule Essentials
FSMA’s Sanitary Transportation Rule expects that equipment, operations, and records support safe movement of food. In practice, that looks like suitable trailers, validated temperature control, driver training, and documentation your auditors can review. We align with these expectations and follow your facility protocols during pickup and delivery.
What we recommend verifying:
Documented driver training on sanitary transport requirements
Procedures for pre-cooling, temperature set, and door-open limits
Processes for handling exceptions (e.g., temp excursion, seal break)
Washouts and Cross-Contamination Prevention
Sanitation is where theory becomes real. Our internal policy is to complete full interior trailer washouts after transporting sensitive commodities (for example, meat or eggs) to prevent cross-contamination and to prepare the trailer for the next load type. We maintain washout receipts and ensure the interior is clean, dry, and odor-free prior to loading new product families.
What to ask any carrier:
When do you mandate full washouts?
Will you share washout documentation upon request?
How do you prevent odor transfer or residue that can affect product quality?
On-Time Performance You Can Plan Around
What On-Time Should Look Like in Practice
Targets matter because your plant schedules, warehouse labor, and receiver appointment windows depend on them. We aim for 100% punctuality while recognizing real-world constraints; our current benchmark runs 98–99% on-time for both pickups and deliveries. That on-time focus is part of our DNA — our tagline is “on-time every time” — and we review performance trends to keep improving.
Evaluation tip: Ask for a recent 6–12-month on-time summary and how exceptions were handled. The story behind misses is often more important than the percentage alone.
Appointments and Exception Management
Even great plans hit snags — weather, facility delays, or highway closures. What matters is exception management: how fast your carrier notifies you, who calls, and what they propose to keep shelf-life risk low. Our team operates 24/7 dispatch with dedicated account management. If an incident occurs, we escalate immediately to the contacts you designate, share what happened, provide options (e.g., appointment reschedule, team-driver relay, alternate route), and confirm the agreed path forward in writing.
Visibility & Communication (So You’re Never Guessing)
Real-Time Tracking and Live Updates
Real-time GPS visibility is standard for our customers — not a premium add-on. You should be able to see when your load arrives at the shipper, departs, and approaches the receiver. We send proactive updates at key milestones and can tailor alerting to your team’s needs. At delivery, we turn documents quickly: POD and, if requested, temperature logs.
System Compatibility
Every shipper’s tech stack looks different. We support your status cadence within your portals or TMS workflows. If you use EDI/API, we’ll align on events and data fields, or keep it simple via structured email updates — whatever ensures your team gets the right information at the right time.
Asset-Based Capacity and Coverage (Lower 48, Core Lanes)
Why Asset-Based Matters
Asset-based carriers control equipment standards, driver training, and scheduling. That control shortens response time and helps keep promises realistic. It also means we can uphold policies like pre-cool verification, sanitation steps, and equipment maintenance without relying on a patchwork of third parties. When timing demands it, we can assign team drivers on suitable long-haul runs to protect delivery windows.
Your Lanes, Our Strengths
We cover the lower 48 states and regularly run Midwest ↔ Pacific Northwest (Oregon/Washington), returning to our terminal near Joliet, Illinois. If your network leans into these corridors, we can typically stage capacity predictably — but we also flex to other regions as demand requires. During peak seasons, share your forecast early; we’ll shape capacity plans that protect your most critical SKUs.
Cost Transparency Without Surprises
How to Compare Quotes Apples-to-Apples
Market conditions shift, but your budget shouldn’t be a moving target after you award the load. Our approach is straightforward: we negotiate pricing transparently based on your lanes, seasonality, and requirements, and once a price is agreed, we don’t change it absent a scope change you approve (e.g., additional stops, different service level). When you compare quotes, align on temperature setpoints, appointment strictness, detention policies, and accessorials; that’s where “cheap” can become expensive.
Accessorials — Prevent Them Before They Happen
Accessorials like detention, redelivery, and lumper fees aren’t inevitable. Most are manageable with good information and preparation. To help you avoid unnecessary costs, our dispatch shares scheduling constraints early, confirms load-ready times, and flags facility nuances that can cause dwell.
Producer checklist to reduce accessorials:
Provide accurate pickup/delivery windows and facility hours
Confirm load-ready status and packaging before driver arrival
Share special handling or security steps in advance
Align on pallet counts, SKU constraints, and any receiver-specific labeling
Commodity Experience That Reduces Risk
What We Haul Most Often
Our refrigerated FTL experience includes meat, fruit, vegetables, and broader produce categories. Different commodities carry different risks — temperature drift, humidity, ethylene sensitivity, or odor transfer. The right controls and sanitation between similar but distinct loads help preserve your quality standards.
Practical Loading Notes
Airflow and packaging matter as much as setpoint. We recommend leaving space at the nose and rear to protect return air, keeping pallets off vents, and following your category’s best-practice pallet patterns. Tell us about any do-not-mix constraints, and we’ll plan the sequence accordingly.
Why Schwarz Logistics
Asset-based capacity with 53’ single-zone reefers
98–99% on-time performance; striving for 100%
24/7 dispatch and dedicated account management
Real-time tracking, fast docs, and temperature logs on request
Documented washouts after sensitive commodities (e.g., meat, eggs)
Core lanes Midwest ↔ Oregon/Washington, lower 48 coverage
A Brief Note on Reefer LTL
Reefer LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) exists, and for certain scenarios it can be economical. But for most food producers with tight shelf-life and appointment precision, FTL provides stronger temperature integrity and schedule control. Our focus is FTL; if you’re weighing LTL for a particular SKU, we’ll walk through trade-offs candidly.
FAQ
What documentation will I receive at delivery?
You’ll receive the POD and, upon request, temperature records for the trip. If your receiver or QA team needs additional confirmations, we can include those as part of the delivery packet.
Can you handle sudden volume spikes during produce season?
Yes. We plan ahead on our core lanes and scale asset-based capacity accordingly. Share forecasts as early as possible so we can protect your critical windows.
Do you integrate with our grocery DC appointment systems?
We regularly work with receiver scheduling systems. Provide facility details and required lead times; we’ll align our status cadence and escalation paths to match.
What’s the best way to avoid detention charges?
Accurate appointment windows, dock readiness, and clear load instructions prevent most dwell. We’ll coordinate details in advance and communicate early if something changes.
Conclusion
Choosing a refrigerated transportation partner is simpler when you focus on what’s verifiable: temperature control you can prove, FSMA-aligned sanitation, reliable on-time performance, real-time visibility, asset-based coverage that matches your lanes, and pricing that stays put once agreed. For long-haul food producers, 53’ single-zone FTL is often the right tool — provided the carrier’s processes are tight and their communication is proactive. Those are the standards our team holds itself to every day.
Closing — Next steps
Share your upcoming lanes, seasonality, and product requirements for a lane assessment.
Send your SOPs, appointment rules, and recent accessorial history; we’ll identify where to tighten handoffs and reduce costs.
If you need to validate a pilot lane, we’ll outline setpoint verification, sanitation documentation, tracking visibility, and a post-delivery review so your QA and logistics teams have everything they need.