Fleet planning keeps the risk of breakdown on the vehicle side: a spare truck, a recovery agreement, a service contract. A cold load raises a second question. When the vehicle stops, does the cooling stop with it?
Where a breakdown takes the cooling with it
| Failure | Effect on cooling |
|---|---|
| Engine failure, on a unit driven from the engine | cooling stops |
| Running out of fuel, on a unit with its own diesel engine | cooling stops |
| Alternator or battery, on an electric unit | cooling stops |
| Failure of the unit itself | cooling stops, the vehicle still drives |
| Waiting after an accident | even with the unit running, door and body integrity are in doubt |
Listing how refrigeration units are driven, the Turkish vocational module separates compressors driven from the vehicle engine from those with their own diesel engine. In both cases cooling is a function that depends on the vehicle being alive.
The Ministry guide's own sentence
Because eutectic refrigerated equipment works independently of the vehicle, a constant temperature is always provided. Perishable food stays protected even if the vehicle breaks down.
That sentence appears in the ATP roadside inspection guide, in the passage describing the class of refrigerated equipment. The same paragraph notes that plates are charged from the grid at night and that no fuel or energy is needed for cooling during delivery.
Once the cold source is detached from the vehicle, fleet flexibility stops being a question about spare trucks.
Independence is not unlimited. A cold source that is independent of the vehicle is not therefore endless. A plate has a budget, and that budget is calculated against the trip plan. What a breakdown scenario gains is an option. While the load is still cold it can be moved to another vehicle, and the transfer takes minutes, because the object being moved is the container itself.
Lines for the contingency plan
- How many minutes it takes to move the load to another vehicle, and where that vehicle is
- The address of the transfer point and whether it has a dock
- At what interval temperature will be recorded while waiting
- Who decides whether the product is accepted
- Where the record and the photographs are kept
Turkey's Food Hygiene Regulation asks for the cold chain to be maintained and recorded together. The record kept during a breakdown becomes the only ground for the argument afterwards about whether the goods can be accepted.
A spare vehicle or a spare container
Keeping a spare refrigerated vehicle means holding an unused asset on standby. Spare containers are a smaller line. They can also be used while they wait. The two do not cover the same risk: a spare vehicle solves a mobility problem, a spare container solves a cold problem. The spare belongs wherever your round breaks more often.
