Refrigerated Transport Lockyer Valley — Fresh Produce from Farm and Packing Shed to Brisbane

We carry fresh produce from Lockyer Valley farms and packing sheds to Brisbane, and chilled and frozen freight back the other way. Runs are booked ahead and travel the Warrego Highway, on vehicles sized from a few pallets to a full semi-trailer.

A vegetable region on the Warrego Highway

The Lockyer Valley lies between Ipswich and Toowoomba. It is a major winter vegetable region, growing about 30% of Queensland’s winter vegetable crop. Gatton and Laidley are the main towns, with farms and sheds around Grantham, Forest Hill, Helidon and Plainland.

Most of that produce travels east. It goes to Brisbane Markets at Rocklea, to distribution centres and to processors across Brisbane.

Take the field heat out before the truck arrives

Produce comes out of the paddock warm. A refrigerated truck will not cool it. Transport vehicles are designed to maintain the temperature product is loaded at, so a pallet loaded warm arrives warm, and it warms the pallets beside it.

Cool the product in your own cold room first. Leafy vegetables are commonly carried at about 0–2°C, and the product owner’s specification decides the set point. We pre-cool the vehicle before it reaches you.

• Probe before loading. Check a carton from the middle of the pallet, where heat lingers longest.
• Leave air a path. Stack below the load line and do not block the airflow at the front or rear.
• Load quickly. The refrigeration unit is turned off while the doors are open, so have pallets staged in the cold room and ready.
• Ask for continuous run. Continuous-run mode is generally preferred for fresh produce because it keeps air moving through the load.

Temperature through a load is not uniform. The warmest point is usually the top of the wall nearest the door, so that is the place to put the hardiest product.

Farm and shed pickups: what the driver needs to know

A packing shed is not a distribution centre. Access varies from farm to farm, and the wrong truck at the wrong gate costs everyone a morning.

1. 1The road in — sealed or gravel, and whether it holds up after rain.
2. 2Turning room — whether a semi-trailer can get in, turn and get out.
3. 3How it is loaded — forklift on site, a loading dock, or neither.
4. 4The pallets — standard 1165 × 1165 mm, how tall, and roughly how heavy.
5. 5When packing finishes — so the pickup time matches product that is packed and cooled.

Plan the season, not just the load

Refrigerated vehicles are in demand across the region when the winter crop is moving. A grower who shares a forecast gets a better answer than one who rings on the morning of harvest.

We do not publish transit times or run days. Both depend on the pickup point, the delivery booking and dispatch availability, and we confirm them at quote. As the consignor you are a party in the Chain of Responsibility, so set delivery times a driver can meet without rushing.

Freight into the valley

Trucks do not have to come out empty. We deliver chilled and frozen food to supermarkets, butchers, cafes and food-service businesses in Gatton, Laidley and Plainland. An inbound delivery can sometimes be paired with a produce pickup, depending on temperatures and on cleaning between loads.

Accreditation and paperwork

Businesses that transport horticulture produce in Queensland may require an accreditation. Check with Safe Food Production Queensland for your product. Ask any carrier, including us, for current documents; our post on food safety questions for your carrier lists what to request.

We read and record calibrated probe temperatures at pickup and delivery. The readings are kept on file and supplied with the proof of delivery on request.

Getting a Lockyer Valley quote

Send the shed location, product, pallet count and destination. We reply within 24 hours, often the same day for routine routes. Our fresh produce transport page explains the handling, the fleet page lists each vehicle, and you can contact us with any access questions. New to booking freight? Start with how to book refrigerated transport.