Getting cargo limits right for a refrigerated hauler moving high-value produce
Client
Delta Cold Chain
industry
Refrigerated Freight
location
Fresno, California
Delta Cold Chain moves temperature-sensitive produce out of the Central Valley for growers and distributors on tight seasonal schedules.
The freight they carry is worth considerably more than the trailer carrying it, and the contracts they sign say so.
Challenge
The cargo limit on the existing policy had been set years earlier against a very different commodity mix. Several shipper contracts now required limits above what the operation actually carried, which was being discovered during onboarding rather than before it.
Reefer breakdown and the conditions attached to it were also poorly understood inside the business, and nobody was confident about what a spoilage claim would actually look like.
Approach
We worked through the commodity mix load by load, alongside the contractual limits their shippers required, so the cargo conversation was grounded in what Delta actually moves rather than an average.
We then walked the team through the policy language that matters most for refrigerated freight — covered causes of loss, conditions, exclusions and the role of the equipment itself — so the operation understood the coverage before it was needed.
Impact
Delta’s cargo limits are now set against the freight they carry and the contracts they sign, and the team knows which conditions attach to a refrigerated claim.
Shipper onboarding stopped being the moment coverage gaps were discovered.
100%
Contracts limit-checked
3
Commodity tiers mapped
1
Clear cargo schedule
“We stopped guessing at the cargo limit. It is now tied to what is actually on the trailer and what the contract asks for.”
—
Priya Raman
,
Operations Director, Delta Cold Chain
