Reefers are not bowing out - yet

AS we all know, containerisation has changed most dry cargo shipping beyond recognition over the past 40 years.

There is, though, one type of vessel that has not changed so much since the days when most cargo was lifted out in slings or on pallets. That is the refrigerated cargo vessel. The fast, often smart looking "reefer" ships were often seen as a cut above the standard, somewhat slower general cargo vessels. Some reefers spent their whole lives carrying bananas while others followed the seasons as fruit crops ripened at different times around the globe.

Of course, the refrigerated container appeared quite early on, and the expectation was that reefers would quickly follow the traditional tweendecker cargo ship to the breaker's yard. Things did not work out like that and the flexible reefer fleets kept going and were renewed. Reefers still appeared to have the edge when it came to homogeneous chilled or frozen cargoes.