Arguably, what makes the cold chain transport industry stand out from the rest is that it is considered a “mission-critical” service, because any failure in the refrigeration unit can compromise the temperature required for food safety and disrupt the whole cold chain. Due to its critical role, it comes as no surprise that regular servicing of your transport refrigeration unit should be standard practice in the industry. 

In this article, we will explore the Top 6 Benefits of Regularly Servicing Your Transport Refrigeration Unit, starting with the most evident of all .

1. Increases Reliability

High reliability is crucial when it comes to your transport refrigeration unit. The importance of a trustworthy refrigeration unit is equivalent to having a reliable power supply at cold storage locations. However, unlike other mission-critical services, having a “back-up refrigeration unit” installed alongside the main one is not always possible.

Statistically speaking, mechanical and electrical systems are less prone to fail when they are serviced in a timely manner. Increased reliability has a direct impact in reducing unforeseen downtime, which is precisely the next benefit to discuss.

2. Reduces Unnecessary Downtime

Breakdowns will happen. That’s inevitable. Electrical and mechanical systems will fail sooner or later, however, regularly servicing your refrigerated unit will help in keeping unexpected downtimes to a minimum.

If you repeatedly fail your deliveries of refrigerated products, you can quickly gain a bad reputation and consequently, you may be excluded from a list of reliable carriers. Following a scheduled maintenance program will allow you to detect common refrigeration unit problems in time, and plan ahead to resolve the issue before it becomes a major problem.

3. Decreases Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 

Taking into account that there is great competition within refrigerated transport market. Therefore, costs and efficiency are crucial aspects to consider in order to succeed.

By regularly servicing your refrigerated transport unit, you can achieve a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Let’s suppose that your scheduled maintenance program includes changing engine oil and the unit’s belts. Doing so may prevent a breakdown during a delivery which would undoubtedly bring many additional costs, logistics, personnel time to attend the emergency and so on.

4. Improves Fuel Efficiency

Without any doubt, fuel consumption has a huge influence on the running costs of the transportation industry, because regular servicing of your refrigerated transport unit will boost fuel efficiency ,and this will be much prominent on direct-drive units. The reason is simple, direct-drive units use the vehicle’s engine to drive the compressor. This means that engines lacking proper maintenance will be severely affected by the additional load and thus will have a negative impact on fuel efficiency as well as the refrigeration performance.

5. Extends Unit's Lifespan

Another positive effect of regular servicing of your refrigerated unit is extending its lifespan. Like any other electric/mechanical system, refrigeration units wear over time. However, a formal preventative maintenance program will keep key components in optimal condition drastically reducing abrasion, over/under pressure, improper lubrication and other common problems caused by lack of proper maintenance.  

6. Saves You Money

Throughout this article, you may have noticed that regularly servicing your refrigerated transport unit can actually save you a lot of money. By reducing unexpected downtime, lowering fuel costs, you are saving money.

Regularly servicing your Transport Refrigeration Unit is not an expense but an investment.

A reliable transport refrigeration system capable of delivering perishable goods on time is the ideal paramount of any carrier in the cold chain transport industry. Without any doubt, regularly servicing your refrigerated transport unit is the best way to ensure your business complies with cold chain high standards of being ready every single day of the year 24/7 without having “unexpected” downtimes.