Pros And Cons Of Being A Professional Refrigerated Truck Driver
The demand for professional truck drivers, especially for refrigerated trucks, is in high demand these days. That’s completely normal if we consider the fact that most of the goods that need to be transported form one place to another are food products. These products require proper organization and special trucks for transportation. The trucks that are used for transportation for perishable and other temperature sensitive goods are known as refrigerated trucks. These trucks pull specific trailers which are called refrigerated trailers where the food products are being stored.
The refrigerated trailers look very similar to the standard trailers. The main difference is that a typical refrigerated trailer is equipped with a special cooling system that keeps the products inside in good and healthy condition until they reach the final destination. The temperature inside the refrigerated trailer can be adjusted, monitored and controlled by the driver depending on the goods that need to be transported. The refrigerated truck driver usually adjusts the temperature from cool to frozen in order to ensure that nothing will be spoiled during the transport process.
Driving refrigerated trailers and transporting frozen or semi-frozen goods is different from transporting standard frights. The truck part is the same, but the trailer behind is completely different. The refrigerated trailers are made of special materials that described as good heat insulators. Most refrigerated trailers that can be seen on the roads all over Australia are made of stainless steel of aluminum. These materials reflect the sun and keep the goods inside the trailer in good condition. For keeping a constant temperature, the cooling systems use special cryogenic refrigerants such as: carbon dioxide and nitrogen in liquid and solid form.
The refrigerated trailers are used for transportation of various food products, including meat, ice cream, pizza and other frozen or semi-frozen foods. These trailers are also used for transportation of various non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages like juice, milk and beer. In some cases, a refrigerated trailer is used for transportation of flowers and other temperature sensitive items. Many hospitals use special refrigerated trucks for transportation of human organs from one place to another. As you can see, the range of products and items that can be transported with refrigerated trailers is huge.
The transport companies that use refrigerated trucks and trailers train their drivers how to operate the trailers. The drivers must have good driving skills before sitting behind the driving seat. Like many other jobs, the trucking career has its own pros and cons. The main positive and negative sides of being a professional refrigerated truck driver are the following ones:
Pros:
Salary. The truck drivers that pull refrigerated trailers earn more money that the truck drivers of the standard trailers.
Job Security. The current demand for drivers of such trailers is very high, so the job security is pretty high.
Weight and Loads. The refrigerated trailers are generally used for loads and items that have small weight. That’s one of the main reasons why so many drivers choose to operate a refrigerated trailer instead of a standard trailer.
Cons:
Specific Control and Monitoring. The drivers of the refrigerated trailers need to check the cooling system on every two hours in order to ensure that everything is working properly.
Time for Transportation. The transportation of refrigerated loads usually takes more time, considering the fact that the drivers need to check and adjust the temperature inside the trailer constantly.
More Inspection. The refrigerated trailer requires more inspection and maintenance for proper operation. The inspection is far more complicated than the inspection of the standard trailers.
In overall, being a truck driver of a refrigerated trailer is a prospective and interesting job that offers many possibilities for further development.