Ask how long a refrigerated body lasts and the answer usually comes back in terms of metal: if the panels are sound, it carries on. On the certification side the answer is far more definite. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure guide sets out the calendar in four lines.
The calendar
| Stage | Period |
|---|---|
| New equipment, from date of manufacture | 6 years |
| Expired certificate, renewed by periodic inspection | 3 years |
| Second renewal | 3 years |
| Third renewal | 3 years |
| Total | 15 years at most |
Article 12 of the regulation builds the same frame: equipment in service must be inspected within six years of manufacture, a passing inspection is valid for three years, and if the type test is repeated during inspection and passes, the period can again run to six years.
What happens in the fifteenth year
The guide gives its reasoning in terms of materials: after fifteen years the polymer used in the insulation loses performance, so following periodic inspection the equipment is assigned to the next ATP class down. The example given is FRC dropping to FNA. Article 12(8) of the regulation settles the same rule in two sentences: heavily insulated equipment older than fifteen years is treated as normally insulated, and normally insulated equipment older than fifteen years is not certified under ATP at all.
The class falls by calendar, not by maintenance. A body that has never been in an accident hits the same date.
That calendar is the line most often left out when working out what a reefer really costs.
Which life should the investment case use. The mechanical life of a tractor unit and the certificate life of a body are not the same number. For an operation running frozen loads, the useful life of the body is the period during which it holds its class. If the depreciation table carries the vehicle's total life while the body drops a class in year fifteen, that table understates the real cost. Putting the replacement line in the year the calendar ends gives a more honest figure.
Domestic carriage
Equipment without an ATP certificate and not older than fifteen years from manufacture receives a domestic perishable-goods carriage document instead. Its periodic inspection period is three years. The regulation also states that this document cannot be used for carriage to countries party to ATP, which closes export work to an ageing domestic body.
The penalty doubles every thirty days
Article 23 of the regulation sets an administrative fine of two thousand Turkish lira per breach. The second paragraph is the one to notice: thirty days are given to correct the breach after the fine is served, and if it is not corrected by then, the previous fine is applied at doubled value until it is. Amounts rise each year by the official revaluation rate.
On the container side the unit is smaller
Insulated containers age too; polyurethane foam tires in a box the same way it tires in a body. The difference is the unit of replacement. When a body drops a class, the decision concerns the whole vehicle. When a container tires, the decision concerns one container and the fleet keeps working. Splitting the renewal decision into pieces does not remove the bill, but it spreads it over time.
