Over 25 years of hands-on experience serving shippers across the Inland Empire and Southern California.
From refrigerated freight to full truckload service, we handle all your transportation needs with precision and care.
For over 25 years, refrigerated freight has been the heart of what we do. Our fleet is purpose-built and meticulously maintained to hold precise temperature ranges from pickup to final delivery, no exceptions.
Every driver is trained specifically for cold chain handling, and our dispatch team actively monitors each refrigerated load in transit, catching issues before they become problems.
From fresh produce to pharmaceuticals, we understand what's riding in the trailer and treat every load with the care it demands.
"Reliable and on time, every time. Our cold chain has never been in better hands."
— Local Shipper"They treat every load like it's their own. Honest pricing, great communication."
— Distribution Manager"Family-owned and it shows. When we call, someone actually picks up."
— Warehouse Ops Lead"Been using Patterson Trans for years — consistent, dependable service."
— Produce DistributorWe proudly serve homeowners and businesses across the Inland Empire and Southern California. Our 15-mile service radius ensures fast response times for all on-time work.
Also serving surrounding Inland Empire communities.
Patterson Trans Inc. has spent more than 25 years perfecting one thing: moving temperature-sensitive freight safely across Southern California without a single link in the cold chain ever breaking. As a family-owned refrigerated trucking company based in Fontana, CA, we sit at the center of one of the busiest logistics corridors in the country, giving us direct, efficient access to the ports, warehouses, and distribution centers that keep the Inland Empire moving. Whether you're a produce distributor in Fontana, a pharmaceutical supplier in Ontario, or a grocery chain restocking stores across Riverside and San Bernardino counties, our refrigerated trucking services are built around a simple standard: your freight arrives exactly as it left, on time, every time.
From full truckload reefer runs to less-than-truckload shipments that need the same careful handling as a full trailer, our team treats every load like it's the only one on the road. This page is your guide to how we serve the Inland Empire, the industries we specialize in, and why so many local businesses trust us as their long-term refrigerated freight partner.
Cold chain logistics is unforgiving. A single gap in temperature control — a delayed pickup, a poorly maintained trailer, a driver who doesn't understand what's riding behind them — can turn a truckload of fresh produce or pharmaceuticals into a total loss. That's why cold chain logistics in the Inland Empire has to be handled by a carrier who treats temperature control as a discipline, not an afterthought.
At Patterson Trans Inc., our refrigerated fleet is inspected, calibrated, and maintained on a strict preventive schedule, not repaired only after something breaks. Every reefer trailer is set and monitored to hold precise temperature ranges from the moment freight is loaded in Fontana until it's unloaded at its final destination, whether that's a distribution center in Ontario, a retail backroom in Rancho Cucamonga, or a cold storage facility across the Southern California basin. Our drivers are trained specifically in cold chain handling, not just general freight movement, and our dispatch team actively tracks every refrigerated load in transit so a developing issue gets caught and corrected long before it becomes a claim.
This matters because the Inland Empire is one of the largest inland logistics hubs in the country. Warehouses, cold storage facilities, and distribution centers here move enormous volumes of temperature-sensitive freight every single day, and shippers need a local partner who understands the region's traffic patterns, dock schedules, and delivery windows as well as they understand refrigeration itself. That local knowledge, paired with three decades of hands-on cold chain experience, is what separates a national carrier routing freight from out of state from a company that actually lives and works in Fontana.
Patterson Trans Inc. is based in Fontana, California, but our reach extends across the full Inland Empire. Within roughly 15 miles of our yard at 13414 Slover Ave, we regularly serve shippers throughout San Bernardino County and Riverside County, including San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Highland, and Jurupa Valley to the east, and Riverside, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, and Montclair to the west and south.
Reefer freight services across Southern California demand more than just a truck and a driver — they demand a carrier who understands the region's freight corridors and can move quickly between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the rail yards, and the thousands of warehouses that line the 10, 15, 60, and 210 freeway corridors. Because we're headquartered in the heart of this network, we can respond faster to same-day and next-day requests than carriers dispatching from farther away, and we know which loading docks, delivery windows, and local traffic patterns matter most to keeping your freight on schedule.
Local businesses across these communities choose Patterson Trans Inc. because we're not just passing through the Inland Empire — we're part of it. Our team lives in these cities, our drivers know these roads, and our dispatch office is a phone call away, not a call center in another state. Whether you need a single refrigerated trailer moved from Fontana to San Bernardino or a recurring weekly lane connecting your Riverside facility to a distribution center in Rancho Cucamonga, we build routes around your business, not the other way around.
Not every shipment needs a dedicated trailer, and not every load fits neatly into a single category — which is why Patterson Trans Inc. offers both full truckload (FTL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) trucking near Fontana and throughout the Inland Empire.
Full truckload service gives your shipment the entire trailer, with no additional stops, no shared capacity, and one dedicated point of contact from pickup to delivery. It's the right choice when you're moving large volumes of refrigerated or dry freight and need consistent, predictable capacity you can build a schedule around.
Less-than-truckload service is built for shippers who don't need — or can't justify the cost of — an entire trailer. LTL trucking lets San Bernardino County and Riverside County businesses ship smaller quantities cost-effectively, without sacrificing the same careful handling and temperature control we apply to every full load. We know that a half-pallet of pharmaceuticals demands exactly the same discipline as a full trailer of frozen goods, so our LTL customers get the same trained drivers, the same monitored equipment, and the same dispatch oversight as our FTL accounts.
Beyond FTL and LTL, we also offer cross-docking service for businesses that need freight moved quickly between inbound and outbound trailers without unnecessary handling or storage time. For shippers juggling multiple service needs, having one local refrigerated trucking company that can flex between full truckload, LTL, and cross-docking means fewer vendors to manage and fewer chances for something to fall through the cracks between carriers.
There's a real difference between hiring a trucking company and hiring a family-owned trucking company, and Inland Empire businesses that have worked with both will usually tell you the same thing: accountability changes everything.
Patterson Trans Inc. has been family-owned and operated since day one. That means the person who answers the phone when there's a delay isn't reading from a script at a corporate call center — they're someone who knows your account, your delivery windows, and your history with us. Decisions get made quickly because there are fewer layers between a problem and a solution. When our name is on every truck on the road, every load matters to us personally, not just as a line item on a spreadsheet.
For a local business searching for a family-owned trucking company near Fontana, that accountability translates directly into fewer surprises: honest communication when a delay is unavoidable instead of silence, transparent pricing without hidden fees, and a team that's genuinely invested in getting your freight right rather than just getting it off their schedule. Over 25+ years and 60 years of combined team experience, that reliability has built the kind of repeat, word-of-mouth customer base that larger, corporate-run carriers often struggle to earn.
If you're comparing refrigerated trucking companies in the Inland Empire, ask how long they've been in business, who actually owns the company, and who you'll be talking to when something doesn't go according to plan. For Patterson Trans Inc., those answers have stayed the same for three decades — and that consistency is exactly what keeps Fontana-area businesses coming back.
No two shippers move freight the same way, which is why Patterson Trans Inc. built a service model flexible enough to support a wide range of industries across Southern California. Food distributors rely on us for fresh and packaged goods that need precise temperature control and tight delivery windows timed to retail restocking schedules. Pharmaceutical companies trust us with cold chain integrity, chain-of-custody documentation, and the regulatory compliance their products demand from pickup to final delivery.
We also move freight for electronics manufacturers who need careful handling and secure loading for components that have to arrive market-ready, retail and e-commerce operations that depend on inventory moving reliably between distribution centers, warehouses, and stores, and beverage companies shipping freight that brings its own weight and handling considerations. Agriculture and produce shippers across the Inland Empire's farming communities count on our cold chain expertise to protect product quality from farm to shelf, while manufacturing and building materials companies rely on the same FTL and LTL consistency that keeps their production and project schedules on track.
Grocery and distribution businesses, in particular, benefit from our cross-docking capabilities, which let incoming shipments move straight onto outbound trailers at scale without temperature control ever slipping. Whatever industry you're in, if your freight needs to move safely and on time across Fontana, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, or Rancho Cucamonga, there's a strong chance we've already moved freight just like it.
Refrigerated freight isn't just freight that happens to be cold — it's freight where a few degrees of drift can mean spoiled produce, compromised pharmaceuticals, or a failed quality audit. That's why cold chain logistics requires a different level of discipline than standard dry van trucking: equipment that's inspected and maintained on a strict schedule, drivers trained specifically to monitor and respond to temperature conditions in transit, and a dispatch team that treats every refrigerated load as time-sensitive from the moment it leaves the dock.
Patterson Trans Inc. built its entire business around that discipline. It's the reason food distributors, pharmaceutical suppliers, electronics manufacturers, and grocery chains across Fontana, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, and the rest of the Inland Empire have trusted us with their most sensitive freight for over 25 years.
Safety and compliance sit underneath everything we do. Every driver on our team is trained and qualified to handle the responsibility of freight that entire supply chains depend on, and we follow a disciplined preventive maintenance schedule rather than waiting for something to break, because a breakdown doesn't just cost us time — it costs our customers their delivery window. Full DOT compliance and strict safety protocols aren't a checkbox for us; they're the foundation that makes reliable refrigerated trucking possible in the first place. When you search for a reliable trucking company near Fontana, CA or a refrigerated carrier serving the Inland Empire, safety and consistency are usually what separate the companies people recommend from the ones they just tolerate.
If your business needs a refrigerated trucking company in Fontana, CA that understands both the technical demands of cold chain logistics and the practical realities of moving freight across Southern California's busiest logistics corridor, we'd like the chance to earn your business. Call us at (909) 367-2848, request a free quote through the form on this page, or stop by our yard at 13414 Slover Ave in Fontana. Whether it's a single refrigerated trailer or a recurring weekly lane, our team is ready to move your freight safely, on time, and exactly the way you'd move it yourself.
Refrigerated freight, or reefer freight, is any shipment that must stay within a specific temperature range in transit. Even a short lapse can damage the product, which is why it's been our specialty for over 25 years.
We're based in Fontana, California, and serve the Inland Empire and greater Southern California, including San Bernardino, Riverside, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, and surrounding cities within about 15 miles of our location.
Food, pharmaceutical, electronics, retail and e-commerce, beverage, agriculture, manufacturing, grocery and distribution, building materials, and general dry commodities.
Yes. We offer FTL service for large shipments and LTL service for smaller shipments that don't need a full trailer.
Yes. That ownership structure is part of why we can offer the kind of personal, hands-on service larger carriers often can't.
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