Refrigerated freight is one of the highest-paying spot markets in trucking — and one of the most demanding. This is what a first-year reefer owner operator needs to know before signing up for reefer dispatch.
What moves on reefers
Produce, meat, seafood, dairy, frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, and floral. Each commodity has its own temperature and handling requirements.
Temperature is your responsibility
The rate con specifies a temperature and often a continuous-vs-cycle setting. Get it wrong and you own the claim. Download temperature logs on every load and email them to the broker at delivery.
Seasonality — plan your year
Produce season (April–October) is boom time for reefer. Winter shifts to protein and frozen. December sees a surge in floral. Match your maintenance calendar to the slow weeks.
Top reefer lanes in 2026
California to Northeast, Florida to Midwest, Washington to Texas, and Idaho to Southeast. Each has strong outbound rates and predictable back-hauls — exactly what a competent reefer dispatch program builds a schedule around.
The bottom line
Reefer rewards operators who love details. Master temperature, seasonality, and produce lanes and you'll out-earn dry van peers by $40–$80k per year. Pair the equipment with a reefer dispatch team that lives in produce season and you'll get there faster — see /reefer-dispatch for how we run it.