Reefer loading: load line, T-floor, open floor
How TrimLoad keeps the cold air moving in a reefer: cargo under the red load line and 12 cm under the roof, inside the T-floor, open floor covered — with the carrier sources.
In a reefer the cold air comes out of the T-floor under the cargo, rises at the door end and goes back to the unit over the top of the cargo. Carriers ask for three things so it can: nothing above the red load line, nothing past the end of the T-floor, and no large patches of open floor. TrimLoad plans and checks the first two; it tells you about the third.
20ft reefer
Red load line: 215 cm
Cargo up to: 213.5 cm
Cargo ends at (T-floor): 534.6 cm
Door air gap: 10 cm
40ft HC reefer
Red load line: 239.4 cm
Cargo up to: 239.4 cm
Cargo ends at (T-floor): 1,147.8 cm
Door air gap: 10 cm
Height
Hapag-Lloyd: “In any case, at least 12 cm must be kept free between roof and cargo” — stricter than some red lines, which sit 8–10 cm under the roof. TrimLoad uses the lower of the two: the lowest red line (215 cm in a 20ft reefer) or the lowest roof (225.5 cm) minus 12 cm, which is 213.5 cm. If your reefer's red line is the only limit, pick “Red line only” under Equipment.
T-floor end
Hapag-Lloyd: “Do not load cargo beyond the surface specified by the "T-Bar" floor”. No carrier prints where the T-floor ends, so TrimLoad keeps the last 10 cm at the door free (the only figure we found, from a reefer operator) and marks the reefer “typical”. If your reefer's T-floor runs to the door, pick “T-floor runs to the door” under Equipment.
Open floor
Hapag-Lloyd: “Any free floor area and gaps may not exceed 5% of floor area”. When more than 5% of the T-floor is bare — pallets often leave more — the plan says so: cover it with cardboard or board so the air does not short-cut.
Frozen and chilled
Frozen cargo goes in as one tight block (MSC: “a solid block, with no spaces between boxes and the walls”) — that is how TrimLoad packs. Chilled produce needs air between and through the cartons (vented cartons, Hapag-Lloyd: “loosely enough so that air can move above and between the packages”); no carrier gives a gap size, so the plan does not add channels — use vented cartons and the carrier's settings.
Floor or pallets
“Compare floor and pallets” on the plan builds pallets from your cartons (layers, cartons per pallet, under your height and gross limit) and loads them into the same reefer, next to floor loading. Floor loading usually fits more; pallets load faster at the dock.