Edinburgh · Refrigerated transport
Central kitchens, food wholesalers and producers in the Edinburgh city region prepare their orders at night. Our partner couriers in Edinburgh collect them then or before dawn, chilled or frozen, and hand them over to your customers, restaurants and caterers in the Old Town, shops and supermarkets in East Lothian, before they open to the public.
Our refrigerated rounds in Edinburgh
The Low Emission Zone is enforced at night too: cameras read number plates there 24 hours a day. A diesel refrigerated van delivering to a restaurant in the centre before dawn must therefore be Euro 6, just as in broad daylight. We assign a compliant vehicle to your rounds, at no charge to you, and the route can use the boundary streets, which stay outside the zone.
In summer, High Street, Parliament Square, Cockburn Street and St Giles’ Street are closed to vehicles during the day, at hours that change every year. We check the current summer’s, collect your products as soon as production ends and order the round so that Old Town restaurants are delivered before the closure, starting with the Lawnmarket, via Johnston Terrace. Your customers outside the Old Town come after.
On a yellow line, a vehicle can unload for up to 30 minutes; beyond that, it needs a paid dispensation from the council. Putting away a large frozen order in a shop can take longer: tell us when you book how long each handover takes. We then tell you whether any of them needs a dispensation.
Local rules checked in October 2026.
How we work
We collect your products when production ends, at your central kitchen or your wholesaler, and deliver them before your customers open to the public. When an address is in the Low Emission Zone, whose cameras also work at night, we send a compliant refrigerated vehicle, and we place each stop in the hours your customer’s street is open to deliveries.
We start by agreeing with you the temperature range, the packaging and what the courier must do at each address. The job goes to one of our partner couriers in Edinburgh, chosen for their refrigerated vehicle, which is reserved for your goods, compliant with the zone and set to your products’ temperature range. They load at your site and drive straight to your customers. Your orders rarely go to a single address: we chain them into a round, which often leaves as a night delivery. Refrigerated transport is most of our work, and its page describes our vehicles and temperature logging.
An Old Town street closed earlier than planned, a customer who does not answer: our team finds the solution with the courier, the body stays cold in the meantime, and you are informed afterwards. Your teams no longer have to phone restaurants one by one to check they have been delivered. Our team follows your deliveries every day from 6am to 10pm.
For goods that travel without refrigeration, our same-day delivery in Edinburgh collects and hands them over within the day, anywhere in the city region.
The service
We keep these three commitments in all our cities. Here, they allow for night collections, the Low Emission Zone and the Old Town’s summer hours.
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
Within the range agreed with you, at the last Old Town restaurant delivered during the morning just as at the first stop of the night: between 0 and 4 °C or between 0 and 7 °C chilled, depending on the products, and at −20 °C frozen. The body is cooled before loading at your central kitchen or wholesaler, and on a regular round a logger records the temperature up to the last handover; you are told of any deviation.
Yes, before 7.30am on weekdays: peak-time bus lanes generally operate from 7.30am to 9.30am and from 4pm to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, and their hours are signed at the start of each lane. Two exceptions: a trial route between Milton Road East and London Road is restricted from 7am to 7pm every day, and the lanes on Johnston Terrace, Bread Street or at Ocean Terminal are restricted day and night. The courier then takes another way.
With the codes or keys you entrust to us, which is common practice for us. The courier drops your chilled and frozen products in the restaurant or shop before it opens to the public, and you receive the proof of delivery.
Yes, it is possible, but not guaranteed. Describe your volumes when you request a quote: we will tell you then whether we can assign one to your round in Edinburgh.
Yes. In Edinburgh, streets limited to 20 mph are limited 24 hours a day. A night round therefore drives no faster than a daytime one in the streets of the centre and residential areas, and the handover time we give you is worked out at that speed.
Send us the list of your products and their temperature range, the address of your kitchen or warehouse and the time each customer takes deliveries. We will come back to you with a refrigerated vehicle compliant with the zone, an order of stops and a time for each one.