Refrigeration Units (Russian Market)

2026: A new refrigerator plant was opened in Nizhnekamsk for 1 billion rubles

In February 2026, a new plant for the production of professional refrigeration equipment was launched in Nizhnekamsk (Tatarstan). The Sovital company (part of Polair Group) will produce refrigeration cabinets for drinks used in retail chains and in the field of catering. The total investment in the project reached 910 million rubles. Read more here.

2020

The Russian market for refrigerators decreased by 23% in physical terms

On April 8, 2021, it became known that Russian the market for refrigerated trucks decreased in 2020 by 23% in physical terms compared to 2019. In total, a little more than 8,100 transport products with HOU (refrigeration and heating installations) of various types were put into operation: direct drive, autonomous, vertical. cars legal Mostly registered persons, individuals accounted for 18% of the total. This is reported by the company SIV Transcholod, distributor transport and commercial refrigeration equipment, based on its own data, information from marketing automobile agencies, data from state authorities.

The Russian market for auto refrigerators decreased in 2020 by 23% in physical terms. Photo: zen.ati.su.

As explained, most of the direct drive units were purchased - 4900 units, 2910 units of vertical HOUs were purchased. Autonomous installations for trucks - only 290.

Among manufacturers, the leaders in sales in 2020 in Russia were: CARRIER (USA), DonginThermo (Korea), H-Thermo (Korea), TerraFrigo (Russia), ThermoKing (USA), Zanotti (Italy), Elinge (Russia). A kind of "Big Seven" among the manufacturers of refrigeration equipment present on the Russian market.

The main factors affecting the refrigeration market in 2020: a pandemic, a change in the exchange rate, sanctions against a group of Russian vehicle manufacturers and a ban on the supply of equipment to them, a shortage of chassis, a reduction in the restaurant and hotel business, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises. Perhaps the key factor that entailed other events was the coronavirus pandemic.

Already in the middle of the first quarter of 2020, sales began to decline, they reached their low point in April-May. Then the recovery trend began, remaining in April 2021.

Among motor-vehicle refrigeration units, direct drive units (DirectDrive) are most in demand, they are used for transporting temperature cargo within the city, usually on light commercial transport. The units do not have their own engine. Drive of compressor or generator is connected through belt transmission with motor of vehicle. Structurally, the units are a split system - a condenser is installed outside, an evaporator is installed inside the body. They are used to transport both fresh and frozen food in vans from 2 to 50 m3.

The leaders in the commissioning of cars with installed direct-drive units were the Central, Volga and Ural Federal Districts. Almost half fell on the Central District, including Moscow and the region.

According to SIV Transcholod, a distributor of refrigeration equipment, CARRIER, Zanotti, ThermoKing, Elinge, TerraFrigo are among the TOP-5 brands of direct-drive units sold in 2020.

When installing HOU direct drive, the most in demand in 2020 were cars of Russian brands VIS, GAZ and foreign FORD, HINO, HYUNDAI, ISUZU, JAC, MITSUBISHI FUSO.

Autonomous units have their own diesel engine to ensure the operation of the compressor of the refrigeration unit and other HOU systems. They are used for delivery around the city and intercity transportation cars in trucks with vans from 20 to 89 m3. Autonomous COUs are immediately filled from the plant with refrigerant (R404A or R452A), oil, antifreeze, ready for installation and start-up. They have their own electric 12V system, and fuel is obtained from the fuel tank of the automobile chassis on which the van is installed, or from their own fuel tank if the refrigeration unit is installed on a trailer or semi-trailer.

The peculiarity of autonomous units is the ability to install both in the upper part of the van and in the lower part, under the van. There are also special versions, Oasis and Nordic, for regions with very hot climates and very cold ones.

Sales of autonomous truck units were down more than 65% from 2019. The leaders in the percentage decline among other districts were Central and Ural. The Central, Ural and Volga Districts were leading in sales, taking a total of 60% of sales in all regions.

If direct drive units can be called conditionally a mass device - they are acquired by companies of different sizes and spheres of activity, individually and in batches, then autonomous HOUs, as a rule, go to the parks of large retail grocery chains and this market segment largely depends on the service life of already operated installations and plans for updating or expanding the refrigerated fleet of retailers.

Vertical units are installed mainly on semi-trailers with isothermal wagons of standard volume - 88 m3 and increased - up to 126 m3. Such road trains are used for large intercity and international transportation of temperature cargo.

In the Russian market of vertical units, as well as in the world, two manufacturers dominate - CARRIER and Thermo King. In 2020, most of these units were mounted on semi-trailers manufactured by SchmitzCargobull, Krone and the Russian company Tonar. A significant share of the total number of semi-trailers with refrigeration units comes from abroad in the form of fully ready-for-operation refrigerators. The other part is equipped, assembled in Russia from the chassis, isothermal van, refrigeration unit. Vertical HOUs have their own diesel engine and are assembled in one piece with a monoblock evaporator.

Together with refrigeration units, you can order and install equipment to achieve maximum system performance and, as well as control over its parameters: door opening sensors, independent temperature data recorders, telematic systems for constant monitoring of cargo and HOU performance, etc. Usually, and 2020 was no exception, the maximum of additional equipment is ordered with vertical units. The cost of temperature cargo transported in a semi-trailer can reach tens of millions of rubles and the question is no longer whether to install auxiliary equipment, but in the selection of the optimal configuration.

At the same time, it is worth noting a positive trend for retrofitting and direct drive units - the demand for recorders with the ability to print data and door sensors increased by more than 24%. If an entrepreneur or company purchases a refrigerated truck to provide transportation services, then the registrar is an inexpensive and reliable solution for monitoring a given temperature regime. For example, the transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine is regulated by SP 3.1.3671-20, which obliges to maintain a temperature regime of minus 18 ° C and below for the entire time of transportation and storage at any permissible degree of loading.

"There is a growing need for control systems with the ability to transfer data online. Carriers, grocery retail, pharmaceutical companies want to receive real-time service and operational data of the refrigeration plant, information about the driver's actions to maintain the temperature regime and its current values, "confirms Andrey Sidorov, project manager at Advantum.

The main volume of production and supplies of isothermal vans for further use with refrigeration plants falls on Russian companies: AvtoMash, Auto-Mechanical Plant, VIS-AUTO, Luidor-Tuning, SibEuroVen, Spetsmobil-NN, Tonar, Tsentrtranstehmash and others. Exchange rate fluctuations, state support played a positive role in the development of domestic production. More than 85% of vans for refrigerators with direct-drive units were made by Russian manufacturers.

In addition to cars with refrigeration units, used cars were also purchased. The annual inflow of used vehicles with refrigeration units is several times higher than the number of commissioned vehicles. Relative to 2020, a little more than a third of them were produced more than 10 years ago, another third are cars aged 5-10 years, the rest are under 5 years old. The fall did not affect the used car segment, on the contrary, the number of vehicles that changed ownership increased by 16% year-on-year.

The global refrigerated vehicle market reached US $16.11 billion in 2020. In 2019, the market volume amounted to $15.1 billion, the research company IMARC notes. The assessment includes road, sea, rail and air transport.

Experts estimate that the global refrigerated vehicle market will see moderate growth over the next five years.

One of the drivers of the global refrigerated transportation market is the growth of frozen food consumption. With the growing popularity of healthy lifestyles, there has been an increased demand for frozen variants of various fresh foods from consumers alongside the growing demand for these services from catering operators. In addition, the production of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and the expansion of trading opportunities worldwide will also have a beneficial impact on the market growth.

Fesco tested the temperature control system for cargo transportation

Russia One of the key elements of the unified food control system transportation has been tested in. This was announced on November 9, 2020 by the company. Telematics Concern (formerly National Telematics Systems) A test run with equipment was organized transport by the company with FESCO participation. " Center for the Development of Digital Platforms "(CRTP) More. here

As of March, the transportation of temperature-sensitive goods in Russia is carried out by about 80-100 thousand "refs"

Grocery retail and pharmaceuticals are industries that, along with food manufacturers, are the main customers of temperature transportation. The logistics of temperature-sensitive cargo is distinguished by the presence of a special type of van and refrigeration unit to maintain the necessary temperature. As of March 2020, the structure of the REF transportation market itself, the market for vehicles and equipment for such transportation, has formed. On March 13, 2020, TAdviser was told about what the market of refrigeration units for transportation represents in the Advantum company

As reported, consumers choose refrigeration units, as a rule, based on two characteristics: price and reliability. At a price, Russian and Korean-made equipment usually wins - it is more budget-friendly than units from international brands such as Carrier and ThermoKing. In terms of reliability, domestic and Korean HOUs are less durable, with a service life within the warranty period, which is about 12 months. Large carriers and retail networks more often choose more powerful and reliable Carrier and ThermoKing installations, which as of March 2020 occupy a dominant position in the market. At the same time, the share of sales of Russian HOUs is steadily growing, this is due to the development of Russian industries, their pricing policy and the increase in duties on the import of foreign analogues.

Carrier and ThermoKing have an advantage over other manufacturers - an extensive network of service centers in Russia. In particular, Carrier has one of the largest networks of authorized service centers, which ensures the brand's presence in almost all major cities of the country. Thanks to this fact, a steady demand for units of these brands is maintained.

The selection of the refrigeration plant model is determined by the selection of the vehicle and the logistics tasks for which it is planned to be used. Depending on the type of transportation, this can be the delivery of the "last mile" or transportation between distribution centers. So, in the conditions of the city, when delivering to the store, small-tonnage vehicles and less powerful HOUs are more suitable, and when transporting between distribution centers, large-tonnage vehicles with powerful and reliable installations are used.

In turn, an important factor influencing the choice of vehicle that indirectly affects the type of HOU is the Plato system. It is meant that buyers who decide to purchase a vehicle for commercial transportation more accurately choose tonnage in order to reduce the upcoming cost of payments in favor of the system, namely, they prefer transport with lower load capacity.

When choosing HOU, an important factor is the presence of additional services, for example, telematics. Such services can serve as a full-fledged information system and provide not only remote temperature control in the body, but also allow you to receive service and operational data on the operation of the refrigeration plant. And also receive operational information about the movement of the vehicle and its condition. The introduction of such solutions into operational activities allows companies to grow: scale their business and develop. The information system acts as a tool for improving the level of process control. The presence of this functionality can be one of the criteria for choosing a cold installation for a large buyer.

There are several types of refrigeration units: direct drive, self-contained HOU and eutectic plate unit. It is not entirely correct to be guided by the type of unit when buying. To select the HOU model, it is necessary to determine the type of planned transportation, the geography of the delivery and the vehicle itself: the volume and type of its van, chassis, engine type, onboard voltage. If the transport company "has a load" on the truck and main transportation, then it will be more profitable to use an autonomous vertical unit. If transportation will be carried out in the city, then smaller transport is needed, then a direct drive unit is better suited.

The buyer chooses a vehicle and a refrigeration unit for it based on economic feasibility. Most often, the price of a transported ton is calculated for a vehicle, or in the case of low-tonnage cargo, it considers the transportation price to be 100 kilograms of goods. Some take into account such an indicator as a liter-hour (fuel consumption). For example, the average fuel consumption per truck of 20 tons with a REF installation is 2.2 liters per hour.

During the purchase and operation of refrigeration plants, errors are usually made only by beginners. For example, transport companies that decide to purchase a vehicle for transporting temperature-sensitive cargo. If they have not encountered such transportation before, they may try to save money and choose a van with increased heat dissipation. Buy an unreliable or weak refrigeration unit and as a result get increased fuel consumption to maintain temperature. At the same time, the quality of transportation will suffer. If you choose inexpensive HOUs, then in 2-3 years the installation will need to be changed, it may fail. Additionally, the problem of the lack of authorized service centers in the region, for example, for Russian, Korean and Chinese units, this situation is quite relevant.

By purchasing an inexpensive refrigeration unit, you can face its frequent breakdowns, which will lead to constant visits to service stations. The latter, in turn, may turn out to be artisanal and only aggravate the situation with an unprofessional approach to repair. Every entrepreneur must decide for themselves what they choose: a cheaper option with more problems that entail additional costs, or a more expensive but reliable unit.

In addition, as with any expensive equipment, timely service, original spare parts and proper operation are important for refrigeration units. Additional telematics services give more freedom and control over processes, for example, when using them, you can schedule the time before the upcoming scheduled service, see and analyze errors that are notified to the user from the refrigeration plant, and arrive at the service in a timely manner without bringing the situation to a critical one. Therefore, the data transfer function for March 2020 has become one of the most popular.

The number of REF vans and refrigerated semi-trailers determines HOU sales. In 2019, about 10 thousand vehicles marked REF were registered - these are semi-trailers and vans. As of March 2020, temperature-sensitive cargoes of about 80 000 - 100 000 "refs" are transported in the country in total. Of these, about 3-3.5 are semi-trailers, the rest are vans and "low-tonnage." Almost 50% of the market for refitted vans is Gazelle, and this ratio has been maintained for the past 5 years.

Among the features of the market, it was noted that over the past 5 years, several large factories for the production of semi-trailers and bodies for the transportation of REF-goods have appeared in the country. Earlier, Russian manufacturers accounted for about 10-20% of the total market volume. As of March 2020, about 50-60% of "commissioned refs" are produced - with Russian vans and semi-trailers. At the same time, the import decreased due to an increase in duties and the rapid development of production on the territory of the Russian Federation. In turn, the main imported brands are Schmitz and Krone.