Refrigerated
Chiller van rental in Dubai
Refrigerated transport from −18 °C to +5 °C, pre-cooled before you load it. For food, flowers and pharmaceuticals in a city where an hour in the sun ruins a whole pallet.
From AED 380 per day
−18 °C to +5 °C
3,000 kg payload
Driver available
Temperature
What runs at which temperature
The body holds one set temperature for the whole load. Tell us what you are carrying and we set it before you arrive, rather than leaving you to work it out in the loading bay.
Frozen meat, seafood, bakery and ready meals. Whatever goes in has to be frozen solid already; the unit keeps it there rather than freezing it.
Fresh meat, fish, dairy and cut flowers off the airport. Nothing here sits far from its limit, so this is the setting where a long stop with the shutter open does the most harm.
Fruit, vegetables, catering trays and medicines. Most kitchen, supermarket and pharmacy rounds in Dubai run at this setting.
Packaged dry goods on a day the van is out for chilled work anyway. The insulation still shields them from the heat, although nothing is being cooled.
Chiller van, refrigerated van, freezer van, reefer: in Dubai all four names describe the same thing: an insulated box cooled by a unit set to one temperature. That single setting is the practical limit. A round with both frozen and chilled stock either runs at the frozen temperature with the chilled part packed in insulated boxes, or goes out as two vehicles.
Who uses them
Industries we run chiller vans for
Restaurants and cloud kitchens
Daily supply runs from the wholesale markets and cold stores out to kitchens across Dubai, usually before service starts.
Catering and events
Prepared food to hotels, villas and event sites, held at temperature until it is handed over rather than sweating in a hot van.
Florists
Cut flowers from the airport freight zone to shops and events. A short run in ambient heat is enough to cost you the stock.
Pharmacies and clinics
Medicine and consumable deliveries where holding a documented range is part of the supply contract. See moving medicines and vaccines.
Supermarkets and grocers
Store replenishment and online grocery routes, including the last-mile drops that a large truck cannot get into.
Running this daily?
Most chiller work ends up on a monthly contract. At AED 6,500 a month it costs about a third less than 26 working days at the daily rate.
Pickup points
Where Dubai’s chilled deliveries start
Most chiller rounds begin at one of a handful of places. Each has its own rhythm, and planning around it saves time every day.
Al Aweer Central Fruit and Vegetable Market
The city’s wholesale produce market, out at Al Aweer beyond Ras Al Khor. Buying and loading happen early, the lanes between traders fill with pickups and vans, and a van can spend longer parked than moving. Keep the shutter down between traders and load each purchase straight in, instead of stacking crates beside the van while the buying carries on.
Waterfront Market, Deira
Fish, meat and produce for restaurants across the older city. Fish is packed in boxes with ice, so plan for meltwater: use lidded or lined boxes, keep them on the floor below everything else, and expect the body to need washing out at the end of the day.
Dubai Flower Centre at the airport
Cut flowers and other high-value perishables arriving by air are handled at the Dubai Flower Centre in Dubai Cargo Village. Collection times follow flight arrivals and clearance rather than your schedule, so the van may have to wait. Waiting does no harm with the unit running and the body closed; build that time into the booking instead of hiring the van for a tight slot.
Cold stores in Al Quoz, Dubai Investments Park and Jebel Ali
Distributors’ cold stores load from docks, usually to a booked slot, with product already at temperature. These are the easiest collections of the day. The discipline needed is at the dock: close the shutter between pallets, and do not let loaded stock stand while the paperwork is signed.
Size
1-ton or 3-ton chiller: which one a Dubai round needs
Both hold the same temperatures. They differ in payload, in where they fit, and in who is allowed to drive them.
Our 1-ton chiller van is built on a Toyota Hiace with an insulated body, carrying about 1,000 kg. It suits restaurant, bakery, florist and pharmacy rounds where each drop is a few crates, and it fits where a truck chassis struggles: the loading lanes of Deira and Karama, basement car parks, hotel service entrances with low ceilings. Its biggest advantage is the licence, because a driver with a normal UAE car licence can usually take it.
The 3-ton chiller carries three times the weight in a 4.2 m box on a light truck chassis. It suits supermarket replenishment, wholesale collections and catering for large events, where the load runs to pallets or a hundred crates and more. If the round is measured in pallets, the chiller truck sizes guide compares what each refrigerated body holds. It needs a driver with more than a car licence, and it is taller, so every delivery point has to be checked for height.
Choose by the heaviest day of the week rather than the average one. A round that carries 800 kg most days and 1,600 kg on its busiest day runs better in the 3-ton than in a 1-ton making two trips, because the second trip costs the time and the cold that the first one saved. The reverse holds as well: a 3-ton running half empty through Karama every morning pays for size it cannot use in streets it barely fits.
Rates
Chiller van rates
In AED, including insurance, registration, and servicing of both the vehicle and the refrigeration unit. Fuel, Salik, fines and 5% VAT are charged 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 |
| Driver, per day | AED 250 | Up to 9 hours |
Deposit AED 2,000, refunded in full. Extra kilometres AED 0.80. A 3-ton vehicle needs the appropriate UAE licence — if nobody on your team holds one, add one of our drivers.
How it works
From booking to return
What happens between the first message and getting the deposit back, so nothing on the day comes as a surprise.
Book with the temperature, the dates and the first address. The unit is set at our yard in Nadd Al Hamar and the body brought down to temperature before the van leaves, then the van is delivered to you anywhere in Dubai at no charge, or collected from the yard if that suits you better.
At handover the display should already show your setting. Photograph the outside of the van and the inside of the body, note the fuel level, and start loading straight away rather than leaving the body open while you fetch the stock.
During the hire the refrigeration unit is our responsibility: its servicing is part of the rate, and a unit that fails is recovered and the van replaced. Fuel, Salik and any fines run to your account, and so does the mileage beyond the allowance.
At the end, the body comes back empty and clean. The AED 2,000 deposit is returned once Salik and any fines have come through against the plate, which normally takes up to 30 days.
Getting it right
Four Dubai conditions every chilled round is planned around
The same van behaves differently here than it would in a cooler city. These are the local conditions that decide whether stock arrives in range.
Summer heat on a parked van
From June to September a van standing in the sun takes on heat through its roof and walls far faster than one on the move. At long stops, park in the shade of a building, and never leave loaded stock in a parked van while the driver takes a break.
Traffic that keeps stock on board
A drop that takes half an hour at ten in the morning can take twice that in the peak on Sheikh Zayed Road or Al Khail Road, with the unit working the whole time. Deliver short-life stock before the morning peak builds or after it clears.
Queues at the service entrance
Hotels, malls and hospitals take deliveries through one dock, and a van can wait behind several suppliers. Book a receiving slot where the customer offers one, and keep the shutter down while you wait.
Humidity when the shutter opens
Humid summer air condenses on cold product the moment the shutter goes up, and wet cartons soften, stain and get rejected. Keep cartons wrapped until they reach the cold room, and do not open the body just to take a look.
Coverage
Chiller vans across the Emirates
The rate card is the same wherever the van works. What changes is the mileage, so pick the page for the emirate you are actually running in and we will price the route rather than the day.
Abu Dhabi
Mussafah, ICAD, KIZAD, the island, Al Ain and the Western Region. Long routes, so mileage matters more here than anywhere else in the UAE.
Sharjah
Industrial Areas 1 to 18, Al Sajaa, Hamriyah and SAIF Zone, plus the early market run into Dubai before the corridor fills up.
Ajman
Industrial Area 1 and 2, the free zone and Al Jurf, with Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah in comfortable reach.
Bigger than a van?
Refrigerated and reefer trucks at 5 and 10 tonnes for pallet work, priced per route with a driver.
Chiller van questions
Is the van cold when I collect it?
Yes. Give us the setting when you book and the body reaches it before the van leaves the yard, so loading can start the moment it arrives.
How much does a chiller van cost in Dubai?
Day, week and month rates for the 3-ton chiller van are AED 380, AED 2,200 and AED 6,500, including 150 km, 1,000 km and 3,500 km respectively. Our driver adds AED 250 a day, the refundable deposit is AED 2,000 and each extra kilometre is AED 0.80. Fuel, Salik, fines and 5% VAT come on top, and loads beyond 3 tonnes move to a refrigerated truck.
Do you provide temperature records?
Ask when you book and tell us who needs the data. We will say what the unit on your van records, and if its readings are not enough for your customer, an independent logger travelling with the product is the simple answer.
Are the vans approved for food transport?
Food vehicles in Dubai are approved by Dubai Municipality’s Food Safety Department, and the permit belongs to the individual vehicle, identified by its plate. Once we know the goods, we confirm in writing that the van allocated to you is permitted for them.
What licence does the driver need?
A 3-ton chiller sits above the light vehicle category, so a standard car licence is not enough. Most customers take the van with one of our drivers for this reason.
What if the refrigeration fails mid-route?
Keep the shutter closed and phone us at once. We recover the van and send a replacement, and what happens in the first half hour decides how much stock is saved; the guide to a chiller that stops cooling sets out those steps.
How should the van be returned?
Empty and washed out. Food residue left in a chiller body overnight in this climate is a genuine hygiene problem for the next customer, and cleaning is charged if we have to do it.
How do I get a chiller van for rent in Dubai?
Send us the temperature you need, the dates and the route on WhatsApp. Chiller van rental and chiller van for rent are the same thing — so is refrigerated van rental, which is simply the more formal name for it. We confirm the vehicle and the price before you commit.
Book a chiller van
Send the temperature, the route and the dates. The unit is set, the licence checked and the food permit confirmed before you commit to anything.