Maritime Containers Refrigeration Plant Faults Survey

Abstract

Container transport is the most popular type of sea shipping around the world. The share of reefers (refrigerated container) in the total number of containers transported is about 15%.The worldwide stock of refrigerated containers used for transportation of perishable goods is still growing, while the conventional reefer fleet is shrinking. Still, despite of clean advantages they also carry some risks. Difficult operating conditions of refrigerated containers instigate very high risk of malfunctions, including permanent damage. The majority of articles about refrigerated systems failures, focus mainly on the onshore ones. Publications describing damage of reefers are limited. Therefore, this article attempts to classify and analyze the most frequent failures of container’s refrigeration units. This issue is very important for the crew safety, natural environment and high quality product preservation. The data necessary to perform the analysis come from reports on units damaged over two years. Introduction presents the characteristic of refrigerated containers and problems which occur during their exploitation. Next, the research methodology is presented. Eventually, the research results are presented and discussed. The summary and conclusions close the work.