Reefer ship

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.

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.

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.

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.

The success of this method was limited by insulation, loading techniques, ice block size, distance and climate.

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.

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.

The Nelson brothers, butchers in County Meath, Ireland, started shipping extensive live beef shipments to Liverpool, England.

Their regularly scheduled shipments and ships developed into the Nelson Line that was formed in 1880 for the meat trade from Argentina to UK.

The United Fruit Company has used some type of reefers, often combined with cruise ship passenger accommodations, since about 1889.

[4] In World War I, the US Navy contracted for 18 refrigerated ships for hauling provisions to the troops in Europe.

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.