Heated transport
From November to April, an ordinary van is no longer enough
A load that leaves Dallas at 25 °C arrives in Montreal at −25 °C. A heated trailer is not a luxury: it is what keeps your liquids, paints, adhesives or beverages from arriving frozen.
A dry van is not insulated. Its inside temperature reaches the outside temperature within a few hours, and stays there the whole time the truck is stopped — overnight, at the border, in the consignee’s yard on a Sunday.
Freeze damage has one particular trait: it is invisible at delivery. The pallet is intact, the wrap is in place, the consignee signs. The problem surfaces when the container is opened, sometimes weeks later, when the paint no longer spreads and responsibility has become hard to establish.
A heated trailer keeps the box above freezing for the whole trip, stops included. It does not refrigerate and does not hold a cold chain: this is freeze protection, and it is exactly what the products below need.
Heated transport
How we handle it
- 01
You flag it at quoting time
It is an equipment decision, not an option added later. An ordinary trailer already at the dock cannot become heated.
- 02
We confirm the risk window
November to April on our corridors. A southbound US departure in March still crosses sub-zero nights north of the line.
- 03
The box is brought up to temperature before loading
Loading a tempered product into a cold box burns several hours of margin right at the start.
- 04
Protection holds at a standstill
The heater runs with the engine off. It is the overnight stops and the wait at the line that freeze a load, not the road.
Heated transport
What freezes
These are the product families our customers most often ask a heated trailer for. If yours is not listed and the label says “protect from freezing”, treat it as if it were.
- Paints, stains and coatings
- Permanent loss after freezing
- Adhesives, glues and sealants
- Loss of bond
- Emulsions and cleaning products
- Phase separation
- Beverages and bottled goods
- Burst containers
- Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics
- Per the product data sheet
- Batteries and electrolytes
- Reduced capacity
An indicative list, built from the requests we receive. It does not replace your supplier’s product data sheet: that document governs the minimum allowable temperature.
The risk window, in practice
November to April on our corridors, with the coldest nights from January to March. The risk is not proportional to distance: a Boston pickup delivered the next day can sit through a night at −20 °C, while a Texas load travels warm for two thirds of the trip. What matters is the last leg, the one north of the line.
Free quote
Got a product that can’t freeze?
Tell us what it is, where it ships from and when. We will confirm whether it needs a heated trailer and what that changes to the price.