Reefer Trade
F1. Maritime HistoryDefinition
Refrigerated meat and fruit trade from the late nineteenth century.
The seaborne carriage of chilled and frozen perishables (meat, fruit, fish, and dairy) in refrigerated vessels, beginning when the SS Strathleven landed Australian frozen beef and mutton in London in February 1880 and the Frigorifique and Paraguay opened the South American meat run. Dedicated reefer ships and, later, banana boats carried the trade; it shifted in the late twentieth century toward refrigerated containers (reefer boxes). Specialized reefer tonnage now competes with integral container reefers.
Source: SS Strathleven first commercial frozen-meat cargo (Australia to London), February 1880