Reefer Container Inquiry Guide
A guide to writing a reefer container inquiry: cargo, control needs, quantity range, and the certificate, quantity, and timing questions to settle in the reply.
A reefer inquiry starts with cargo and control
A reefer container inquiry should begin with two facts: the cargo in general terms, and the control need that the cargo carries with it. Those two facts separate a reefer inquiry from every other container inquiry on this site, because the reply to a reefer question depends on the cargo and its control need before it depends on anything else. A buyer who opens with the cargo and the control need, and then names the container type and the quantity range under consideration, gives the reply a clear starting point, and the remaining questions can then be answered in the same message thread.
Buyers who open with a container name alone, without the cargo behind it, usually receive a reply that asks for the cargo first, and the exchange loses a round. The cargo description does not need to be detailed, and it does not need to include any figure that the buyer has not confirmed; a general description of the cargo and the control it needs is enough for the reply to confirm the category and move on to documents, quantities, and timing.
Questions about the container itself
After the cargo and the control need, the inquiry should name the container type in the company's own category wording, and the quantity range under consideration. The quantity range matters because the quantity and timing terms for an order are settled for the items actually named, and a range gives the reply something concrete to work with, while a single vague word gives it nothing. A buyer ordering more than one category should list each category on its own line, with a quantity range for each, rather than merging them into one figure that the reply must untangle.
The inquiry should also state whether the reefer question stands alone or sits beside another need, such as a parts question or a securing question. A combined message is welcome, provided each need is listed separately, because the reply can then answer the reefer question, the parts question, and the securing question each for the items named, without having to ask which part of the message belongs to which need.
Control needs in general terms
A control need should be stated in general terms in the inquiry, as the buyer's own requirement for the cargo, and the reply will then address the container question for that requirement. The inquiry should not state a control figure as though it were a published specification of a container, because no container specification is published on this site, and a figure stated by the buyer as a requirement is a different thing from a figure stated as a property of a product. Keeping that distinction clear in the message protects both sides: the buyer asks for what the cargo needs, and the supplier answers for the container in question.
If the control need is still uncertain, the inquiry should say so, and should describe the cargo so that the reply can help settle the need. An uncertain need described honestly is easier to answer than a precise-sounding need that turns out to be wrong, because the reply can then confirm the category and the control question together, rather than correcting a figure that was never the buyer's own requirement in the first place.
Certificates for one reefer container
Certificates are available upon request, and that generic sentence is the whole of the certificate position stated on this site. A reefer buyer who needs a document for a specific container should ask about it in the inquiry, naming the container type alongside the question, because the answer depends on the container in question. The inquiry should ask which document applies to that container, and what the reply can supply for it, rather than assuming that a particular document covers every container in the category.
The certificate question should be asked early in the message, together with the cargo and the container type, so that the reply can address it alongside the quantity and timing questions. A certificate question asked late, after the quantity and timing terms have already been discussed, may reopen the whole exchange, because the document answer can affect which container the order should name in the first place.
Quantity and timing questions
Confirm the minimum order quantity for the items in the inquiry before ordering. Confirm the lead time for the items in the inquiry before ordering. Those two sentences are the quantity and timing position of this site, and they belong in the buyer's own checklist rather than as figures on a page, because no quantity figure and no timing figure is stated for any specific order here. A reefer inquiry should therefore name the quantity range under consideration and ask what quantity and timing terms apply to those items, and the reply will settle both terms for the order actually named.
A buyer who needs the quantity and timing answers by a particular point in their own planning should say so in the message, in general terms, so that the reply can take the buyer's planning into account. The message should not state a deadline as though it were a term already agreed, because the timing term is settled in the reply, and a planning note is a request for the reply to consider, not a term imposed on it.
What to leave for the reply
A reefer inquiry should leave three things for the reply: the document answer for the specific container, the quantity term for the items named, and the timing term for the order. Those three answers cannot be given on a page, because they depend on the cargo, the container, and the quantity range in the message, and a page that stated them in advance would be guessing at an order that has not been written yet. A buyer who leaves those three answers to the reply, and who names everything the reply needs to give them, will usually receive a complete answer in one round.
The inquiry should also leave any specification question for the reply, rather than stating a specification as though it were published. The buyer can describe the cargo, the control need, and the intended use in general terms, and the reply can then address the specification question for the container in question. That division of work keeps the message honest: the buyer states needs, and the supplier answers for products.
A short reefer message that works
A workable reefer message can be short. It names the cargo in general terms, the control need the cargo carries, the container type in the company's category wording, and the quantity range under consideration. It then lists the questions to settle: which document applies to that container, what quantity terms apply to those items, and what timing terms apply to the order. It closes with the buyer's name and email address on the inquiry form, so that the reply has a route back to the buyer.
That shape works because it mirrors the order in which the reply will be written: category first, cargo and control second, quantity third, and documents, quantities, and timing as the questions to settle. A buyer who follows that shape will rarely need a second clarifying message, and a buyer who departs from it should at least keep the category, the cargo, and the quantity range in the first paragraph, because those three facts are the ones the reply cannot proceed without.
Ask about a reefer container
Confirm the minimum order quantity for the items in the inquiry before ordering.
Confirm the lead time for the items in the inquiry before ordering.
Certificates available upon request.
Information on this page is drawn from the company profile and the platform listing described on the about page.