Find the right cold chain partner.

A cold chain company stores or moves goods that must stay within a set temperature range, such as chilled food, frozen food or medicines. The main types are refrigerated carriers and couriers, cold storage operators, 3PLs that pick and pack temperature-controlled stock, and businesses that hire out cool rooms or refrigerated vehicles. On 3PL Hub you can search refrigerated transport companies and cold storage facilities separately.

It depends on the product. Chilled food is usually kept between 0 °C and 5 °C, frozen food at −18 °C or colder, and most refrigerated medicines and vaccines between 2 °C and 8 °C. Some goods travel at ambient temperature with basic protection from heat. Our listings use four temperature bands — ambient, chilled, frozen and pharma 2–8 °C — so you can filter operators by the range your goods need.

Guides group the cold chain in slightly different ways. One practical four-stage version is cold storage, refrigerated transport, handling at each handover such as loading, cross-docking and receipt, and temperature monitoring that runs through all three. A break at any stage can spoil a consignment, so check each operator’s temperatures, equipment and records, not only the carrier or the store on its own.

Cold storage is one part of the cold chain: refrigerated warehouses and cool rooms where goods are held at a set temperature. The cold chain is the whole temperature-controlled journey, from the producer through storage, transport and handling to the customer. A cold store keeps stock cold while it waits; a refrigerated carrier keeps it cold while it moves, and both need records that show the range was held.

Agree the temperature range in writing, pre-cool vehicles and storage before loading, and keep doors open as briefly as possible at each handover. Use data loggers or live telematics so you have a temperature record for the whole trip, and check the product temperature on receipt. Choose operators whose equipment suits your goods; our profiles list temperature monitoring and temperature reports where the operator states them.

Australia’s cold storage market includes national operators with sites in several states as well as many independent single-site cold stores. The cold storage listing shows every facility we list, city by city. We don’t rank operators by size: compare temperature ranges, total capacity, services and location, then confirm current space with the operator.