Dry Van
Is a dry van refrigerated?
No; 'dry' means no temperature control, so it is not suitable for perishable or temperature-sensitive freight.
What freight is most suitable for a dry van?
Non-perishable, palletized, boxed, or wrapped freight such as industrial materials, automotive parts, packaged food, electronics, construction supplies, and general manufactured goods.
What is the key receiving control point for a dry van shipment?
Seal check, count verification, and damage inspection before inventory receipt, because the trailer is a protected transit unit and any mismatch becomes a WMS/ERP exception at the dock.
A dry van is an enclosed, non-temperature-controlled trailer used to move general freight that must stay protected from weather, dust, road debris, and theft risk during transit. In manufacturing and inventory logistics, it is the standard over-the-road equipment for palletized, boxed, wrapped, or otherwise non-perishable raw materials and finished goods.
Dry vans are typically backed to a dock for rear loading and unloading with forklifts or pallet jacks, which fits warehouse receiving and shipping workflows built around palletized material movement. For raw material tracking, dry van shipments arrive as sealed loads, so receiving teams verify bill of lading, seal integrity, pallet count, and part numbers before posting inventory to WMS/ERP; the trailer functions as a protected transfer container rather than a controlled-environment unit. In manufacturing plants, dry vans support production replenishment, inbound components, packaging, MRO supplies, and outbound finished goods where the SKU is shelf-stable and does not need temperature control. The common 53-foot dry van is the industry standard because it supports dock-high loading and large-volume shipment of general freight. Operationally, a dry van is a portable warehouse on wheels for non-perishable inventory, keeping material enclosed until it reaches the dock and reducing exposure-related damage during line-side replenishment flows.
Temperature-sensitive goods arrive degraded: Dry vans have no refrigeration, so SKUs requiring cooling or controlled conditions can spoil before reaching the dock, forcing reorders and line-side delays.
Pallets shift and crush cartons: Overstuffing or misloading a dry van creates uneven weight distribution and freight shift, which leads to dock delays and receiving counts that do not match the manifest.
Fragile shipments arrive damaged despite the enclosure: A dry van is not a clean room or shock-isolated unit, so poorly wrapped electronics or moisture-sensitive packaging can suffer damage when dunnage and load bars are inadequate.