When you’re transporting fresh fish, the setup inside your fishmonger van matters just as much as the refrigeration. Every fish business works differently, from local deliveries and wholesale supply to market trading and door-to-door sales, which is why some of our customers choose to build on a standard fridge van with features tailored specifically to the way they operate.
At CoolVan, we’ve spent over 25 years supplying and converting refrigerated vehicles for businesses across the UK. Alongside our range of standard chilled vans, we also offer bespoke fridge van conversion options designed around the day-to-day demands of fish transport, helping you create a setup that works for your stock, your routes and the way you sell.
1. Waterproof interiors that are built for the realities of fish transport
Fresh fish creates a very different environment inside a van compared to most chilled deliveries. Between melting ice, standing water and regular washdowns, the interior needs to cope with constant exposure to moisture day after day without deteriorating over time.
When you buy a fishmonger van conversion from us, we can upgrade our standard setup with a fully waterproof fibreglass interior, complete with a protective gel coat that’s durable and easy to clean. This continuous finish throughout the load space creates a far more robust environment for transporting wet fish and helps prevent long-term issues such as water ingress, trapped moisture, corrosion, and damage caused by worn or failing seals and joins.
2. Jet-wash friendly conversions that help you maintain hygiene and safety standards properly
When you’re transporting raw fish every day, hygiene is a huge part of the job. Between melting ice, standing water, fish residue and regular loading throughout the day, keeping the inside of the van clean and sanitary at all times is essential, not just for presentation and the quality of your goods, but for health and safety too.
That’s why our bespoke fishmonger vans are designed so that the entire load space can be regularly jet-washed without damaging the lining or compromising the structure of the conversion. The waterproof fibreglass finish and protective gel coat create a fully sealed interior that’s designed to make cleaning quicker and easier while helping you maintain the strict hygiene standards required within the fish and seafood industry.
3. Fish lips and drainage systems designed for the demands of wet fish transport
For many fishmongers, one of the most practical upgrades we offer is a fish lip, also known as an upstand. Fitted around the rear and side loading doors, this raised edge helps contain water from melting ice and wet fish stock within the load space, reducing the amount that spills onto surrounding paintwork, seals, and exposed metalwork during loading and unloading.
When combined with our waterproof, jet wash-friendly fibreglass interior, this creates a load space that’s far better suited to the daily demands of transporting wet fish stock. In addition, we can include integrated drain holes to help water drain properly during washdowns. Rather than water pooling inside the van or constantly running back out through the doors during cleaning, it can drain away in a controlled way, much like a bath or sink.
The waterproofed conversion is designed to keep water contained within the areas built to handle constant exposure. Salt water, melted ice, and washdown water can quickly cause problems if they escape into unprotected parts of the original van. Over time, moisture reaching exposed metalwork, seals, paintwork, and internal panels can lead to corrosion, damage, and costly repairs.
4. Chilled, frozen and dual-temperature setups built around the way you transport fish
If your business mainly transports fresh fish, you need a chilled setup built to cope with constant loading and unloading, stock packed on ice, and long working days without temperature inconsistencies. At CoolVan, building reliable chilled fishmonger van conversions is what we do best. It’s the core of what we specialise in, and our team has extensive experience designing conversions that can handle the day-to-day demands of fish and seafood transport.
If frozen seafood makes up a large part of your stock, maintaining reliable freezer temperatures is essential for protecting product quality during transport. Our specialist freezer van conversions maintain temperatures down to -18°C, giving you complete confidence that frozen products remain properly protected from the moment they’re loaded until they’re delivered.
If your business transports both chilled and frozen seafood, we can also build dual-temperature fishmonger van conversions with separate temperature zones within the same vehicle, allowing you to safely carry fresh and frozen stock together without compromising storage conditions or needing multiple vans on the road.
Depending on your requirements, our team can also incorporate upgraded insulation, thicker rear doors, and bespoke internal layouts designed to improve temperature stability, maximise efficiency, and better withstand the demands of day-to-day fish and seafood transport.
5. Bespoke display builds designed around the way you sell
If you sell directly to customers, whether door-to-door or at local markets, your van needs to serve as both transport and display. It has to keep your fish properly chilled while you’re on the move, then help you present your products clearly and professionally once you arrive and start serving customers.
We can also create bespoke display setups tailored to the way you trade, helping transform your fridge van into a practical mobile selling space as well as a reliable transport vehicle. When you’re serving customers directly from the van, the layout becomes just as important as the vehicle itself, and even smaller design details can make a huge difference to how smoothly your working day runs.
Depending on how you like to work, we can fit shelving, recessed display sections, and custom-built areas designed for fish to sit neatly on ice while remaining chilled and secure throughout the day. This gives you a cleaner, more organised setup that helps with presentation and makes stock easier to access during busy trading periods.
Whether you need a single fishmonger van conversation or a number of fully bespoke fridge vans, we’ll help you create a setup that fits the way your business runs. From choosing the right make and model to the refrigeration system, internal layout, and finishing details, every part of the conversion can be tailored to the way you transport and sell your stock.
At Coolvan, we convert both new and used vans from leading manufacturers like Mercedes, Nissan and Volkswagen into chillers, freezers and dual-temperature units, building each bespoke fridge van conversion around your requirements.
With over 25 years of experience in refrigerated transport, every recommendation we make comes from an in-depth understanding of what performs reliably long term. If your current setup isn’t quite working for you, get in touch with our team today for a quote. Or, if you have any questions or want to chat through your options, give us a call on 0207 781 8205 or 0161 751 7140 and we’ll be happy to help!
