Cambridge · Refrigerated transport
Our partner couriers in Cambridge collect meat, fish, dairy, ready meals and frozen goods at night or before dawn, from your wholesaler or your central kitchen, then deliver them in a refrigerated vehicle to restaurants, shops and supermarkets in the historic centre, the other wards and the villages of South Cambridgeshire, each one before it opens.
Refrigerated in Cambridge
From Monday to Saturday, the historic centre is closed to vehicles from 10am to 4pm, and during those hours no one unloads there. A restaurant or a shop inside that area therefore receives its chilled and frozen products early in the morning: we put its stops at the start of the round, as soon as your production run finishes, and the order of the other deliveries follows from there.
Bridge Street, Silver Street and the Mill Road bridge are bus gates at all hours, so a refrigerated van never crosses them. From 7am, more restrictions apply: the inbound bus lane on Hills Road is in force until 7pm, and Worts Causeway westbound from 7.30am to 9.30am, Monday to Friday. The first stops and those at the end of the round therefore do not follow the same route, and each one is given a time worked out on its own.
Parking is enforced across South Cambridgeshire, and a van may not load or unload where kerb markings and upright signs forbid it. For a Cottenham convenience store or a Sawston restaurant, we ask you when you book where the vehicle can stop outside your customer’s door, and the handover time allows for it.
Local rules checked in October 2026.
How we work
For a refrigerated round in Cambridge, we start from the time your production ends and the time each customer opens. In the historic centre, a third time matters: 10am, when the centre closes to vehicles, Monday to Saturday. The stops in that area therefore come first, then the round heads to the other wards and the villages, on a route that avoids the bus gates, which are closed to vans even at night.
At the start, you tell us how each product is packed, what temperature it must stay at and when each of your customers can take delivery. We give the job to one of our partner couriers in Cambridge, chosen for their refrigerated vehicle: that vehicle is reserved for your goods, brought to temperature before loading, and arrives at your site as soon as your products are ready, in the middle of the night or just before dawn. Most of the time, it serves several customers on one round, set around their opening hours; for those who take delivery early, it is a night delivery. Every day from 6am to 10pm, our team monitors the round and calls any customer the courier cannot reach. The full service is described on our refrigerated transport page.
For products that are not sensitive to heat, our same-day delivery in Cambridge is a better fit.
The service
The service is the one we run everywhere. In Cambridge, we organise it to make deliveries in the historic centre before it closes to vehicles and to go round the bus gates, which are closed day and night.
Pre-cooling the vehicle, temperature at loading, handling instructions: our team agrees the necessary precautions with you and passes them on to the transport partners.
On your regular refrigerated rounds, data loggers track temperatures during transport. If there is a deviation or anything unexpected, our team coordinates the response with the carrier and keeps you informed.
Crates, boxes or pallets: Shippr brings in equipped partners for your volumes and your temperature needs, from 0–4 °C to 0–7 °C, or −20 °C for your frozen products.
One-off delivery or a round between your stores, shops and restaurants: we adapt the transport capacity, the frequency of stops and the loading arrangements to the way you work.
A carrier unavailable, a vehicle off the road or a rise in orders? The Shippr team finds a replacement that meets your temperature requirements and adjusts the organisation of your rounds.
We coordinate the changes with the partners and let you know the new times, to limit the impact on your supply and your customers.
Frequently asked questions
Chilled products travel between 0 and 4 °C, or between 0 and 7 °C depending on what they can take, and frozen goods at −20 °C. We bring the refrigerated vehicle to temperature before you load. When the round is regular, an on-board logger records the temperature continuously, and we tell you about any deviation.
Yes. We book a refrigerated vehicle suited to your load, set to chilled, to frozen, or to dual temperature when one round carries both chilled and frozen goods. The vehicle is reserved for your goods.
We can, without promising it in advance: a refrigerated lorry over 3.5 t depends on what our partners have available, and we tell you when you book whether one will take the delivery. The courier unloads the pallets with a pallet truck or a trolley, at the loading dock when the store has one.
Yes. Our refrigerated rounds cover the whole of South Cambridgeshire, from Cambourne to Sawston, and one round can deliver to your Cambridge customers, then to those in Histon or Great Shelford. Beyond that, we deliver chilled and frozen goods anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Send us the list of your products and their temperature, the time your production ends and each customer’s address with their opening time. In return, we suggest the refrigerated vehicle, the time it loads at your site and the time of each stop.