A reefer ship is a refrigerated cargo ship typically used to transport perishable cargo, which require temperature-controlled handling, such as fruits, meat, vegetables, dairy products, and similar items.
Types of reefers: Reefer ships may be categorised into three types: [1]
A major use of refrigerated cargo hold type ships was for the transportation of bananas and frozen meat, but most of these ships have been partly replaced by refrigerated containers that have a refrigeration system attached to the rear end of the container. While on a ship these containers are plugged into an electrical outlet (typically 440 VAC) that ties into the ship's power generation. Refrigerated container ships are not limited by the number of refrigeration containers they can carry, unlike other container ships which may be limited in their number of refrigeration outlets or have insufficient generator capacity. Each reefer container unit is typically designed with a stand-alone electrical circuit and has its own breaker switch that allows it to be connected and disconnected as required. In principle each individual unit could be repaired while the ship was still underway.
Refrigerated cargo is a key part of the income for some shipping companies. On multi-purpose ships, refrigerated containers are mostly carried above deck, as they have to be checked for proper operation. Also, a major part of the refrigeration system (such as a compressor) may fail, which would have to be replaced or unplugged quickly in the event of a fire. Modern container vessels stow the reefer containers in cellguides with adjacent inspection walkways that enable reefer containers to be carried in the holds as well as on the deck. Modern refrigerated container vessels are designed to incorporate a water-cooling system for containers stowed under deck. This does not replace the refrigeration system but facilitates cooling down of the external machinery. Containers stowed on the exposed upper deck are air-cooled, while those under deck are water-cooled. The water cooling design allows additional refrigerated containers under deck, as water can be used to dissipate the high amount of heat they generate. This system draws fresh water from the ship's water supply, which in turn transfers the heat through heat exchangers to the abundantly available sea water.
There are also refrigeration systems that have two compressors for very precise and low-temperature operations, such as transporting a container of blood to a war zone. Cargoes of shrimp, asparagus, caviar and blood are considered among the most expensive refrigerated items. Bananas, fruit and meat have historically been the main cargo of refrigerated ships.
In 1869, reefers were shipping beef carcasses frozen in a salt-ice mixture from Indianola, Texas, to New Orleans, Louisiana, to be served in hospitals, hotels, and restaurants. In 1874, shipping of frozen beef from America to London had already begun, which developed into an annual tonnage of around 10,000 short tons (8,900 long tons; 9,100 t). The insulated cargo space was cooled by ice, which was loaded on departure. The success of this method was limited by insulation, loading techniques, ice block size, distance and climate.
The first attempt to ship refrigerated meat across the Pacific was made when the Northam sailed from Australia to the UK in 1876. The refrigeration machinery broke down en route and the cargo was lost. In 1877, the french steamer Paraguay equipped with a Carré compression machine completed the first successful travel with its shipment of 5500 frozen muttons from Argentina arriving to France in excellent condition despite a collision that delayed the delivery for several months, thus proving the concept of refrigerated ships, if not the economics. In 1879, Strathleven, equipped with compression refrigeration, sailed successfully from Sydney to the UK with 40 tons of frozen beef and mutton as a small part of her cargo.
The clipper sailing ship Dunedin, owned by the New Zealand and Australian Land Company (NZALC), was refitted in 1881 with a Bell-Coleman compression refrigeration machine. This freezer unit worked by compressing air, then releasing it into the hold of the ship. The expanding air absorbed heat as it expanded, cooling the cargo in the hold. Burning three tons of coal a day in the steam engine that ran the compressor, it could lower the temperature of the hold by 40 °F (22 °C) compared to the surrounding air temperature, which froze the cargo in the temperate climate of southern New Zealand and then maintained it below freezing (32 °F, 0 °C) through the tropics. Dunedin's most visible sign of being an unusual ship was the funnel for the refrigeration plant placed between her fore and main masts (sometimes leading her to be mistaken for a steamship which had been common since the 1840s). In February 1882, Dunedin sailed from Port Chalmers New Zealand with 4,331 mutton, 598 lamb and 22 pig carcasses, 246 kegs of butter, and hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken and 2,226 sheep tongues and arrived in London after sailing 98 days with its cargo still frozen. After meeting all costs, the NZALC company made a £4,700 profit from the voyage.
Soon after Dunedin's successful voyage, an extensive frozen meat trade from New Zealand and Australia to the UK was developed with over 16 different refrigerated and passenger refrigerated ships built or refitted by 1900 in Scotland and Northern England shipyards for this trade. [2] Within 5 years, 172 shipments of frozen meat were sent from New Zealand to the United Kingdom. Refrigerated shipping also led to a broader meat and dairy boom in Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. Frozen meat and dairy exports continue to form the backbone of New Zealand's economy.
The Nelson brothers, butchers in County Meath, Ireland, started shipping extensive live beef shipments to Liverpool, England. They successfully expanded their beef business until their imports from Ireland were insufficient to supply their rapidly growing business and Nelson decided to investigate the possibility of importing meat from Argentina. The first refrigerated ship they bought was Spindrift which they renamed in 1890 SS Highland Scot. A vessel of 3,060 gross tons bought by James Nelson and Sons in 1889 and fitted with a somewhat primitive refrigerating plant operating on the cold air system became one of the pioneer vessels in the trade of refrigerated meat and other perishable commodities. They hauled beef carcasses from Argentina to Britain. Their regularly scheduled shipments and ships developed into the Nelson Line that was formed in 1880 for the meat trade from Argentina to UK. Refrigeration made it possible to import meat from the United States, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia.
The United Fruit Company has used some type of reefers, often combined with cruise ship passenger accommodations, since about 1889. Because of their cargo was mostly bananas, they were nicknamed the "Banana Fleet". Since bananas are relatively light and the normal shipping route was to Central America and then back to various U.S. ports, these ships were often built as combination cargo ships and what are now called cruise ships to pay for more of their operating expenses. After about 1910, they called these combination cruise and cargo ships the "Great White Fleet" based on their heat-reducing white paint. To avoid US shipping regulations and taxes they are registered in about six other countries, with very few now maintaining US registry. European associates with their own ships were often employed to ship fruit to Europe. United Brands was taken over by Chiquita Brands International in the 1980s and owns the largest fleet of banana boats in the world, but none of them now sails under the US flag. [3] SS Pastores and SS Calamares were built in Ireland in 1912 and 1913 for the United Fruit Company as a combination cruise ship and refrigerated cargo ship. The United Fruit Company's fleet of about 85 ships was one of the largest civilian fleets in the world. These ships normally carried up to 95 cruise ship passengers and a crew to ports in Central America and then would return to the United States with passengers and a cargo of refrigerated bananas and miscellaneous cargo.
The renamed USS Pastores and USS Calamares were taken over by the United States Navy in World War I and used to take troops and refrigerated supplies to and from Europe. After hostilities ceased they were returned to United Fruit Company in 1919. They were requisitioned again on 2 June 1941 from United Fruit for use in World War II. After hostilities ceased they were then returned again to United Fruit Company in 1946. [4]
In World War I, the US Navy contracted for 18 refrigerated ships for hauling provisions to the troops in Europe. They were launched 1918 and 1919 as the war was ending and were nearly all scrapped by 1933 in the Great Depression as an economy move. Most were built in Baltimore Dry Dock in Baltimore, Maryland, Moore Dry Dock Company in Oakland, California and Standard SB Co. in Shooters Island, New York. [5]
The Mizar-class stores ships were six United Fruit passenger and refrigerated cargo liners built in 1931–1933 that the United States Maritime Commission requisitioned in 1941–1942. They were USS Antigua, USS Ariel, USS Merak, USS Mizar, USS Talamanca and USS Tarazed. Antigua, although requisitioned, was never commissioned into the Navy. United States Maritime Commission Type R ship were Reefer ships.
In April 1943, the Navy also requisitioned SS Ulua from the United Fruit Co. After US navy officers boarded the ship and took possession as it approached the Golden Gate Bridge, the ship became the USS Octans. It was the last of the UFC 'reefer' ships to be taken over. [6]
Other reefers converted for US Navy use were the Danish ships USS Pontiac, USS Roamer and USS Uranus.
In addition, the US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the Navy. Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944. 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–1948. [5]
According to the CIA's The World Factbook , [7] there were about 38,000 registered merchant ships in the world in 2010, of which about 920 were designed as refrigerated cargo ships. Because of the proliferation of self-contained refrigerated container systems on container ships, there are many more ships than those designed for only refrigerated cargo that are also carrying some refrigerated cargo. As of 2010, the countries with the largest numbers of reefer ships in their registries are the world's two most prominent flags of convenience: Panama with 212 and Liberia with 109.
Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one. Refrigeration is an artificial, or human-made, cooling method.
The Blue Star Line was a British passenger and cargo shipping company formed in 1911, being in operation until 1998.
A refrigerator car is a refrigerated boxcar (U.S.), a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars, neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus. Reefers can be ice-cooled, come equipped with any one of a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or use carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen as a cooling agent. Milk cars may or may not include a cooling system, but are equipped with high-speed trucks and other modifications that allow them to travel with passenger trains.
Maori was a British refrigerated cargo steamship built in 1893 by C.S. Swan & Hunter of Wallsend-on-Tyne for Shaw, Saville & Albion Co. of London with intention of transporting frozen meat and produce from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The vessel stayed on this trade route through her entire career. In August 1909 while on one of her regular trips, she was wrecked on the coast of South Africa with the loss of thirty two of her crew.
The MV Resolution Bay was a container ship owned by Overseas Containers Limited (OCL).
A refrigerated container or reefer is an intermodal container used in intermodal freight transport that is capable of refrigeration for the transportation of temperature-sensitive, perishable cargo such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, seafood, and other similar items.
The Dunedin (1876–90) was the first ship to successfully transport a full cargo of refrigerated meat from New Zealand to England. In this capacity, it provided the impetus to develop the capacity of New Zealand as a major provider of agricultural exports, notwithstanding its remoteness from most markets. Dunedin disappeared at sea in 1890, and neither the ship nor her crew has ever been seen or heard from since.
William Soltau Davidson was the New Zealand pioneer of refrigerated shipping.
USS Mizar (AF-12) was the United Fruit Company fruit, mail and passenger liner Quirigua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.
USS Talamanca (AF-15) was the United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner Talamanca that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.
USS Roamer (AF-19) was the Danish refrigerated motorship African Reefer, completed 1935, of the J. Lauritzen shipping company which had put in at Madeira after Germany occupied Denmark. The ship later sailed to a U.S. port on assurances it would be treated equally with U.S. vessels chartered for war purposes. Instead it was seized by the United States Maritime Commission and placed in service under War Shipping Administration (WSA) allotment to commercial, Army transport and finally Navy use at half the rate paid for U.S. ships. The agreed to rate was not restored until 1958 after a Supreme Court judgement and Congressional action.
USS Merak (AF-21), the second Navy ship of the name, was the United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner Veragua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.
USS Taurus (AF-25), formerly SS San Benito, was a refrigerated banana boat of the United Fruit Company that may have been the first merchant ship to be built with turbo-electric transmission. From October 1942 to December 1945 she was a United States Navy stores ship in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II. She was scrapped in 1953.
USS Ice King was a refrigerated cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was assigned to transport cargo across the Atlantic Ocean to Allied troops in Europe. On her first transatlantic crossing, a German submarine fired torpedoes at her, but, through skillful maneuvering, her captain was able to avoid being struck and sunk. Post-war she was sold, and continued her civilian maritime career.
Cotati was a steam cargo ship built in 1918–1919 by Moore Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Oakland for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was briefly used for the first two years of her career to transport frozen meat between North and South America and Europe. The ship was subsequently laid up at the end of 1921 and remained part of the Reserve Fleet through the end of 1940. In January 1941 she was sold together with two other vessels to the New Zealand Shipping Co. and subsequently in 1942 was transferred to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Avocet. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 on 30 September 1942 on one of her regular wartime trips.
Banana boat is a descriptive nickname that was given to fast ships, also called banana carriers, engaged in the banana trade. They were designed to transport easily spoiled bananas rapidly from tropical growing areas to North America and Europe. They often carried passengers as well as fruit.
USAT McClellan was a United States Army transport ship that saw service during the Spanish–American War and World War I. She also participated in the occupation of Veracruz in 1914.
SS Antigua was a United Fruit Company passenger and refrigerated cargo liner completed as one of six nearly identical vessels, three built by Newport News Shipbuilding and three by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, for operation by the company's subsidiary the United Mail Steamship Company. The ship was the first of the ships built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts.
J. Lauritzen(JL) is a Danish shipping company with worldwide operations headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark. JL is a private company wholly owned by the Lauritzen Foundation, a Danish commercial foundation that is also the main shareholder (around 40%) of DFDS, one of Europe's largest ferry shipping and logistics company.
The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship. The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. Type R ships were used to transport perishable commodities which require temperature-controlled transportation, such as fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, dairy products and other foods. The US Maritime Commission ordered 41 new refrigerated ships for the US Navy. Because of the difficulty of building refrigerated ships only two were delivered in 1944, and just 26 were delivered in 1945 and the remainder in 1946–48. The 41 R type ships were built in four groups. Two of design types were modified type C1 ships and two were modified type C2 ships. The United Fruit Company operated many of the R type ships in World War II. The type R2-S-BV1 became the US Navy Alstede-class stores ship and the type R1-M-AV3 became the US Navy Adria-class stores ship.
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