Find a Transport Manager for Refrigerated Fleets

A refrigerated fleet needs a Transport Manager who can see beyond a complete temperature report. The statutory role concerns the licensed transport operation, including vehicle and trailer roadworthiness, drivers, hours, maintenance and effective management. Temperature alarms, rejected deliveries and unit failures matter because they can expose planning pressure or equipment problems, but the Transport Manager should not pretend to replace the competent person responsible for food, pharmaceutical or customer-quality decisions.

ETM provides a marketplace for operators to describe their requirements and compare potentially suitable Transport Managers or consultants. ETM is independent of GOV.UK, DVSA and the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. Any formal appointment remains subject to the operator licensing process.

Choose between nomination and specialist support

A standard licence requires a professionally competent Transport Manager. A restricted operator may instead want an audit, training or ongoing advisory support. You may also need a replacement Transport Manager, application assistance or help while requesting a period of grace. State the precise requirement and do not describe a period of grace as automatic.

Tell candidates whether the fleet carries chilled food, frozen goods, pharmaceuticals or mixed products, while avoiding unsupported claims that one regulatory regime covers all loads. The practical transport brief should include trailer pools, multi-temperature work, customer booking windows, night operation and international journeys.

Relevant experience sits at the interfaces

Ask how the candidate would link tractor, trailer, refrigeration-unit and temperature records using consistent asset identities. They should understand that refrigeration servicing does not replace trailer safety inspection, annual testing or brake-performance assessment. They should also know how trailer swaps can break the evidence trail if the correct fleet number is not carried through dispatch, maintenance and deviation records.

A strong candidate will use temperature exceptions as operational intelligence. A unit alarm, door-open event or rejected delivery may change route timing, driver hours, product-transfer arrangements or the safe use of the trailer. The Transport Manager should know when to involve the quality team without taking decisions outside their competence.

Confirm access, authority and availability

Continuous and effective management requires more than a monthly data email. Discuss operating-centre visits, access to planners and drivers, maintenance and tachograph systems, trailer records, breakdown calls and senior managers who can authorise corrective action. Clarify availability during the fleet’s actual operating hours and who covers urgent escalation.

Ask for full details of other operator and vehicle commitments. External Transport Managers are limited to four operators and 50 authorised vehicles in total, and a Traffic Commissioner may consider a lower workable capacity. Trailer volume, shifts, operating centres, compliance history and support staff should influence the proposed time.

Details to put into the marketplace request

• Legal entity, licence number and licence type.
• Authorised and operated vehicles, plus average and peak trailer numbers.
• Operating centres, shifts and delivery regions.
• Owned, hired and exchanged trailer arrangements.
• Nature of temperature-controlled work and international scope.
• Vehicle, trailer, refrigeration and brake maintenance providers.
• Tachograph analysis, booking-window and breakdown processes.
• Any open application, regulator issue or fixed deadline.
• Expected visits, hours, reports and start date.

Use operational questions in the interview

Ask how recurring defects and deviations are trended, how overdue actions are escalated and how the candidate records advice that directors decline to follow.

Verify the candidate and agree the boundary

Check professional competence, relevant CPD, good repute issues, current commitments and ability to attend. Agree in writing which records the Transport Manager controls, which information must be shared by quality or warehouse teams and who owns product-release decisions. The arrangement should give the Transport Manager authority without making false claims about responsibilities outside transport management.

How ETM matching works

The submitted brief can be shown to potentially relevant members. Interested professionals may explain their background, availability and proposed service. You compare the responses and conduct your own checks before agreeing terms. A marketplace response is not a regulatory endorsement or a completed Transport Manager nomination.

Refrigerated fleet FAQs

Must the Transport Manager be a cold-chain specialist?

The law requires professional competence and effective management, not a named sector certificate. However, relevant operational understanding can reduce the risk of missed trailer, planning and breakdown issues. Test knowledge rather than relying on labels.

Should they review temperature deviations?

They should have access where deviations reveal transport planning, equipment or driver-hours risks. The agreed role should not imply that the Transport Manager certifies product safety unless separately competent and appointed to do so.

How much site presence is enough?

There is no universal figure. The proposal should reflect vehicles, trailers, shifts, sites, records, compliance history and available support, using current statutory guidance as a starting point.

Can one person cover maintenance and quality?

Possibly if genuinely competent and given enough time, but responsibilities should be explicit. Combining titles must not dilute continuous and effective transport management.

Sources for refrigerated fleet due diligence

• Senior Traffic Commissioner: transport managers
• DVSA: Guide to maintaining roadworthiness
• HSE: chilled and frozen products
• Goods vehicle operator licensing guide