Winter is a time when about half the United States falls below freezing level and truck drivers start earning their pay by keeping their fully loaded vehicles on the road in spite of slippery conditions. Winter is also a dangerous time for a variety of cargoes, cargoes which may be fine during summer temperature spikes but which don’t cope well with freezing or subzero conditions.
As an example, a lot of electronics are designed to reach and remain at high temperatures, temperatures which go far beyond anything you would normally encounter outside of an oven. Electronic components tend to heat up while in use, after all. But the same isn’t true in the other direction, and if commercial-grade electronics designed to spend most of their lives indoors and in human company instead spend too much time in freezing conditions, it may cause permanent harm, either reducing the lifespan of the product or causing it to fail altogether.
Produce is another cargo type that can go from fine to foul if it drops below 32 degrees. Tomatoes are the classic victims of an early frost, but other products that hate the cold include:
- Citrus fruits like lemons and oranges
- Leafy vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, and kale
- Certain dairy products including milk, cheese, sour cream, and yogurt
Even beyond those foods which are outright ruined by freezing temperatures, freezing and thawing any kind of food will change its texture, usually for the worse, which is why frozen foods recommend only thawing them once. As such, even frozen aisle standbys like meat and potatoes shouldn’t be subjected to an unscheduled freeze during the transportation process.
However, while this does mean that transportation companies should break out their thermal protections, your options aren’t limited to reefer trucks and trailers. With a good thermal cover like the SureTemp container blanket, you can keep a variety of products like produce, electronics, flowers, and industrial chemicals safe from the freezing point even as the outside temperature dives into the single digits. Relying on a good industrial blanket is also much cheaper than adding climate control operation and maintenance to your monthly costs.
Temperature control is important to your clients, and so it’s important to you. But while the extreme cold of the north United States may demand a heat source inside the cargo space, you may be surprised by what you can accomplish with nothing more than a good blanket.
