Fleet · Refrigerated
3-ton chiller van rental in Dubai
Temperature-controlled transport from −18 °C to +5 °C. For food, flowers and pharmaceuticals, where the cold chain breaking is a bigger problem than the delivery being late.
From AED 380 per day
−18 °C to +5 °C
3,000 kg payload
Pre-cooled before handover
Photographs
The actual 3-Ton Chiller Van
These photos are of our own 3-ton chiller vans at the yard, not stock images. Study the inside of the insulated body and the rear opening before you plan a load, because those two decide what goes in and in what order.
The rear opening
Loading through a roller shutter
The 3-ton body closes with a roller shutter rather than swing doors. That changes three small things about loading, and each one catches out someone used to a van.
The opening is lower than the body. When the shutter rolls up it gathers at the top of the doorway, so the clear height at the back is less than the 1.9 m inside. A tall trolley or a stacked cage that fits inside the body can still catch on the rolled shutter on the way in. If the tallest item is close to the limit, measure the opening itself rather than the interior.
Swing doors let you open one side for a small drop. A shutter can be raised part of the way, but it always opens across the full width, so every stop lets cold air out of the whole back of the body. On a round with several drops, bring each order to the rear before you arrive, lift the shutter only for as long as the unload takes, and bring it straight back down.
Keep the last metre of the body square and stable. A shutter coming down onto a crate that has slid back jams, and a jammed shutter on a chilled round is a body that cannot be closed. Check the runners are clear before closing it after every drop.
Specification
Body, payload and temperature range
Tell us the temperature you need to hold and roughly how long the doors will be open on each stop. Both change how the unit is set, and we would rather configure it before you collect than have you fight it on the road.
| Body length | 4.2 m |
| Body width | 1.9 m |
| Body height | 1.9 m |
| Payload | 3,000 kg |
| Temperature range | −18 °C to +5 °C |
| Insulation | Insulated panel body with rear roller shutter |
| Seats | 3 |
| Engine | 3.0L diesel |
| Transmission | Manual |
- 4.2 mload length
- 1.9 mbody height
- 3,000 kgpayload
What to call it
Chiller van or chiller truck? Same vehicle
Half our enquiries for this vehicle ask for a 3 ton chiller van and half ask for a 3 ton chiller truck. Both mean the same thing here: a light truck chassis with an insulated body and a chiller unit on the roof. Nobody is going to correct you, but it is worth knowing what you are actually getting.
Why it gets called a van
It sits in the same job as a large van — city deliveries, restaurant runs, pharmacy drops — and it is the next step up from a 1-ton Hiace chiller. Customers moving up from a van keep the word.
Why it gets called a truck
The body is mounted on a light truck chassis with a separate cab, not a one-piece van shell. It is rated at three tonnes, and that is where the licence changes: this is the point where a car licence stops being enough.
What that means for you
You need a licence for the weight, or one of our drivers at AED 250 a day for up to nine hours. Most customers who book this vehicle take the driver, which is why the rate is quoted both ways.
Not sure whether three tonnes is more than you need? The 1-ton chiller van is a Toyota Hiace and stays inside a normal car licence. Bigger loads go to the 5 ton chiller truck.
Behind the wheel
Stepping up from a van to a 3-ton chassis
For many customers this is the first vehicle they drive with a separate cab and a box behind it. It is not difficult, but it is different.
The biggest change is the view behind you. There is no rear window, so everything behind the vehicle is seen through the mirrors alone. Reversing into a loading bay or a narrow service lane goes safely with someone outside guiding, and the driver should walk round the back before moving off after every drop.
The vehicle is taller and longer than any of our vans. Height barriers that a Hiace clears will stop a 3-ton body, so check the signed limit at basement car parks, hotel service entrances and mall loading docks before you set off rather than at the barrier. The body behind the rear wheels also swings out on tight turns, which is where kerbs and bollards get hit.
The gearbox on this vehicle is manual, and a loaded 3-tonne pulling away on a ramp needs more care than an empty one. A full body brakes over a longer distance too, so leave a proper gap on Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road rather than driving it like a car.
Rates
Chiller van hire rates
In AED. Every rate includes comprehensive insurance, registration and routine maintenance, and on this vehicle it also covers servicing of the refrigeration unit, the part that costs most when it fails. Fuel, Salik, fines and 5% VAT are added separately.
| Term | Rate | Mileage included |
|---|---|---|
| Per day | AED 380 | 150 km per day |
| Per week | AED 2,200 | 1,000 km per week |
| Per month | AED 6,500 | 3,500 km per month |
Extra kilometres are charged at AED 0.80 each. Most chiller work runs on a monthly contract — ask for a route-based quote.
What people move in it
Food and catering
Restaurant and cloud kitchen supply, meat and dairy distribution, catering deliveries to events and hotels.
Flowers and plants
Cut flowers from the airport freight zone to florists, held just above freezing so nothing wilts in a Dubai summer.
Pharmaceuticals
Pharmacy and clinic deliveries where a documented temperature range is part of the contract, not a nice-to-have.
Capacity
How much a 4.2 m chilled body really takes
Food distribution rarely moves on pallets in a vehicle this size. It moves in crates and cartons, and those fill the body differently.
On pallets, the body takes six euro pallets or four industrial ones, which allows about 500 kg or 750 kg on each position before the 3,000 kg payload is reached. Those counts come from the van and truck dimensions guide. The four refrigerated sizes are compared side by side in the chiller truck sizes guide.
Crates tell a different story. A standard 600 × 400 mm food crate fits up to seven along the 4.2 m body and four across the 1.9 m width, so 28 crates cover the floor. Stacked six high with crates about 28 cm tall, the stack reaches roughly 1.7 m and leaves air space under the ceiling. That is 168 crates, and at 18 kg a crate the load comes to about 3,000 kg, the full payload. Fill the crates with anything heavier, such as meat, dairy or bottled drinks, and the van runs out of weight while there is still room to stack.
A round with several drops carries less than that. The next order has to be reachable without unloading the rest, and a 40 cm corridor down the middle of the body costs one row of seven crates on every layer, a quarter of the floor. Plan the round on three-quarters of the space and it will usually load the way you drew it.
Mixed loads
What should not share a chilled body, even at the right temperature
Holding the right temperature is only half of it. Some goods damage each other when they travel together in a closed box.
Ripening fruit gives off ethylene, a gas that speeds up ageing in anything sensitive to it. Bananas, tomatoes, apples and avocados release it; cut flowers, leafy greens and cucumbers suffer from it, with flowers dropping petals and greens turning yellow. A florist’s order and a fruit order should not spend hours in the same closed body.
Strong smells move into fatty foods. Fish, onions and some cheeses taint butter, milk, eggs and chocolate that share their air, and the damage cannot be undone at the other end. Seal odorous product in lidded crates or give it a separate run.
Raw meat, poultry and fish travel below ready-to-eat food, never above it, and in closed containers, so nothing drips onto a product that will not be cooked again. Fish boxes packed with ice need the same care: meltwater runs down through a stack and soaks the cartons underneath.
Medicines are best kept apart from food altogether. A pharmacy expects its stock to have travelled in a clean, controlled load rather than beside a crate of prawns, and a mixed body is hard to defend if a delivery is ever questioned.
Chiller van questions
Will the body already be cold when the van reaches me?
Yes. The unit is started early and the body is at your set temperature when the keys change hands, so the first crate can go straight in.
Can it hold frozen and chilled at the same time?
No. The 3-ton body has one compartment and one setting. For a mixed round, run the unit at the colder temperature and pack the chilled items in insulated boxes, or split the job across two vehicles.
Do you provide temperature records?
Ask before you book, and tell us who needs the record. We will say exactly what the unit fitted to your van can log; if that is not enough for your customer, a small data logger packed into the load gives you a record of your own.
Do I need a heavy vehicle licence?
Yes. The 3-ton chiller is rated at three tonnes, which is where the UAE light vehicle category ends, so a car licence is not enough. Without the right licence in your team, book it with one of our drivers.
Can I hire the 3-ton chiller for a single event?
Yes. A day hire is AED 380 with 150 km included. For event catering, tell us when the kitchen or caterer needs the van at the venue so it is cold and on site before service, and check that the venue has a loading slot for a vehicle this size. Event and exhibition van rental covers the rest of that kind of job.
Who pays if the refrigeration unit breaks down during the hire?
We do, unless the fault was caused by misuse. Servicing the refrigeration unit is part of the rate, and a van whose unit fails is recovered and replaced. Keep the shutter down and call as soon as the temperature starts to climb, because the first half hour decides how much of the load survives.
Can the 3-ton chiller carry dry goods with the unit switched off?
Yes. With the unit off it works as an insulated box on a truck chassis, which keeps goods out of direct heat better than a dry van does, although it is not cooling them. The rate is the same either way, so it makes sense when part of the job needs the chiller anyway.
Other vehicles in the fleet
Reserve a chiller van
Send the temperature, the number of drops and the dates. We will set the unit, check the licence and tell you if a smaller or bigger body suits the job better.