The History of Cold Shipping
Cold shipping is required to ship numerous items around the nation (and the world). Cold shipping can be difficult. Indeed, shipping things across the country already presents its own challenges, and that’s before adding in the problem of temperature regulation. There are a lot of rules that require following when it comes to shipping items that are dependent on temperature. Because of the complex logistics, the history of the cold shipping industry is fascinating!
In the 1800s, railroads were the primary forms of transportation and shipping across the nation. Tycoons like Vanderbilt, whose university is still a fixture in the modern United States, used temperature-regulated railroad cars to transport certain items. Railroads were useful, but they also presented a large hassle and were hard to expand for increasing demand. In addition, things could not be shipped to more remote areas. In the 1920s, therefore, refrigerated trucking was added to the mix. Refrigerated trucking, in the beginning, was exclusive and difficult to achieve. Temperature regulation was spotty and hard to control. Over the decades, however, as portable cooling systems and air conditioning became widely available, the industry has become even more successful.
Today, both trains and trucks can deliver products across the nation much more easily than ever before. While there is still a large amount of labor required to ship things like meal kits, groceries, and other items, the technology of the modern world has allowed for unprecedented advancements to be made. Frozen foods, meal kits, and other temperature-regulated items represent a billion-dollar industry that continues to grow as the demand for products around the country increases.
