Marine & Transport Refrigeration

Refrigeration and ventilation built to work while moving — salt air, constant vibration and DC supply, where nothing designed for a fixed installation survives unmodified.

  • 1,472products across this application
  • 610verified manufacturers
  • 6equipment groups

WhatRefrigeration that has to work while moving

Refrigeration and ventilation for vessels and vehicles: fishing boat holds and RSW systems, ship provision rooms, reefer container and truck body units, and the ventilation that serves engine rooms and accommodation. The thermodynamics are ordinary; the operating environment is not.

WhoWho buys marine refrigeration

Shipyards and boatbuilders, fishing fleet owners and their refit yards, reefer truck and trailer body builders, marine equipment dealers and chandlers, and yacht fit-out contractors.

WhereSalt, vibration and the vessel's own supply

Coastal shipbuilding and fishing regions, and the road and rail reefer corridors that connect producers to ports. Both share the same three environmental problems: salt, vibration and an electrical supply that is not the grid.

WhenBuild, survey and refit

At new build, at classification society survey when equipment has to be brought back to standard, and at refit. Survey and refit work is scheduled tightly around the vessel's earning time, so delivery reliability is weighted heavily.

WhyThree conditions that destroy standard equipment

Three environmental factors make this scenario unlike any fixed installation, and all three are unforgiving. Salt-laden air corrodes aluminium fins and unprotected steel far faster than any inland industrial atmosphere, so coil coating and enclosure protection are structural requirements rather than options. Continuous vibration loosens joints, fatigues pipework and destroys bearings that would run for a decade on a concrete floor. And the electrical supply is the vessel's own — frequently 12, 24 or 48 V DC, or a generator whose frequency and voltage wander under load in a way no fixed-installation motor is designed for.

HowCorrosion, DC supply and vibration isolation

Start with the corrosion specification, because it is the one you cannot retrofit: coated coils, marine-grade or non-ferrous hardware, and sealed enclosures rated for direct water. Then match the electrical supply — genuine DC equipment where the vessel runs DC, rather than an inverter added afterwards, which becomes the least reliable component in the system. Mount everything on anti-vibration isolators and use flexible connections at every rigid pipe termination. Finally, design for service access at sea, where a technician may be alone with hand tools.

Equipment this application needs

Condensing Units Hold & body refrigeration Condensing Units234 Compact water- or air-cooled packs for fish holds, provision rooms and reefer bodies, in marine-protected construction. Evaporators In-space cooling Evaporators74 Coated coils and drip trays that survive continuous salt exposure and take vibration without fatiguing. Heat Exchangers Seawater cooling Heat Exchangers160 Titanium or cupro-nickel plate exchangers rejecting heat to seawater — material choice here is the whole decision. Blowers Engine room ventilation Blowers212 Supply and extract for machinery spaces, where combustion air and heat removal both have to be guaranteed. Axial Flow Fans Accommodation & hold air Axial Flow Fans666 Low-voltage DC fans for cabins, holds and cargo spaces. Refrigeration & Heat Exchange Parts Onboard spares Refrigeration & Heat Exchange Parts120 Valves, controls and seals carried aboard, because a failure at sea cannot wait for a delivery.

What to check before you order

Corrosion Resistant 103
Not an upgrade in this scenario. Salt air is continuous and there is no shelter from it.
Stainless Steel 930
Grade 316 for exposed marine hardware — 304 will show corrosion within a season.
24V DC 54
The most common vessel and truck supply, avoiding an inverter in the reliability chain.
12V DC 51
Smaller craft and vehicle installations.
IP55 / IP68 62
Sealed against direct water ingress, spray and washdown.

Products for this application

Questions buyers ask

Why can't I use standard refrigeration equipment on a vessel?
Three reasons, each sufficient on its own. Salt air corrodes standard aluminium fins and painted steel within a season or two. Continuous vibration fatigues rigid pipework and destroys bearings rated for static duty. And the electrical supply is the vessel's, not the grid's — DC, or a generator whose voltage and frequency move under load. Equipment built for a fixed installation fails on all three.
Should I choose DC equipment or use an inverter?
Native DC, wherever the duty is available in DC. An inverter adds a component that is generally the least reliable item in the whole chain, and it fails in exactly the conditions — heat, vibration, damp — that a vessel provides continuously. Native DC also gives better control of starting current on a limited supply.
What material should a seawater heat exchanger be?
Titanium or cupro-nickel. Stainless steel plates, including 316, will pit and fail in flowing seawater, particularly where the vessel sits idle and the water stagnates in the exchanger. This is the one component where paying for material is unambiguously cheaper than replacing it.

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Tell us about your marine & transport refrigeration project

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