Icecool Trailers competes with a lot of other companies vying for our share of the temporary cold storage market. Some of our competitors offer refrigerated van hire as opposed to our trailers and walk-in rooms. That's fine. There's plenty of room for all of us in this business. But we do have to say that there are times when refrigerated van hire just won't do.
There are significant differences between refrigerated vans and the trailers and walk-in rooms we rent. A van is a complete vehicle with engine, wheels, transmission, and so forth. As such, you are not just renting cold storage. You are renting a vehicle along with all the responsibilities that come with it. This says nothing of the fact that you're not getting the maximum of cold storage space.
When you rent a trailer or walk-in room instead, all you're getting is the unit itself. You're getting the maximum amount of cold storage space without having to worry about vehicle hire liabilities. Moreover, we deliver and pick up the unit for you. You don't have to transport it. You don't pay for the fuel to get it to your destination or accept the liability of having an accident during transport.
An example of when refrigerated van hire just won't do comes from the US by way of a Daily Mail story published on 27th March. The story details a freezer failure at a fertility clinic in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. The failure led to the loss of up to 4,000 eggs and embryos that could not be saved after the failure.
According to the Daily Mail, the failure involved a nitrogen tank malfunction. When the storage tank went down, alarms should have sounded to alert staff that the freezer was no longer working properly. But the alarm system had been turned off for reasons unknown.
A similar failure occurred in a San Francisco clinic the very same week. In both cases, not having adequate cold storage facilities into which the frozen eggs could be transferred ultimately led to their demise.
This is the kind of scenario that would not have been helped by refrigerated van hire. Vans just don't offer enough space per unit, and they are less secure than a walk-in freezer installed indoors. Understandably, temporary cold storage would not have been sufficient as a long-term solution, but it would have done the job until the freezer unit was up and running again.
What happened in Cleveland and San Francisco is truly tragic for everyone involved. We understand that the same kind of thing could happen here. You see, freezers and chillers are not just for food and beverages. Medical facilities throughout the UK use chillers and freezers to safely store all sorts of specimens. If their cold storage units break down, they need replacements right away. Icecool Trailers can supply them.
Sources:
Daily Mail – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5549365/Thousands-lost-eggs-fertility-clinic-freezer-failure.html
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