In Côte d'Ivoire the cold-chain problem is rarely the reefer unit — it is the chassis underneath it. A 22-tonne refrigerated truck spends its life in two worlds at once: dense city distribution through Abidjan, and longer regional runs to the interior where the road and the heat both fight the box. The chassis has to take a heavy, bulky insulated body without overloading the rear axle, and it has to do it on a budget that a small operator can actually finance. This article looks at the one vehicle in the Ivory Coast refrigerated listing, the Foton Aumark EST-M 4×2, and asks only whether the numbers add up for that job.

It is a single-vehicle read. Every figure below is from the published specification. Where the listing is thin or internally suggestive of a question, this article flags it and tells you what to confirm in writing.

1. A 4×2 for distribution, not for the bush

The EST-M is a 4×2 — two axles, one driven. That is the right layout for refrigerated distribution: lower tare than a 6×4, cheaper to run, and enough axle spread for a 22-tonne GVW. The listing puts the front axle at 5.5 tonnes and the middle/rear at 10 tonnes. With a GVW of 22,000 kg and seven tyres (11R22.5 tubeless), this is a rigid truck built to live in the city and on paved regional roads, not a site or mine vehicle. If your cold chain is depot-to-depot on tarmac, the 4×2 is the honest choice.

2. The Yuchai engine and the 4.875 ratio

The published engine is a Yuchai YC6A240-33, 7,225 cc, rated at 177 PS with 900 Nm of torque. There is a detail worth raising with the seller: the engine designation “YC6A240” is a 240-class family, yet the listing states 177 PS. Those two facts point at different outputs, so before you commit, confirm the actual rated horsepower and torque in writing — the badge family and the published figure should agree, and here they do not on the face of it.

The gearbox is a Fast Gear 8JS105TA, an eight-speed manual, behind a 4.875 final drive. A 4.875 ratio on a 22-tonne distribution truck is a working ratio: strong off the line at market loading docks and forgiving in stop-start city traffic, at the cost of some top-end cruising speed. For refrigerated delivery that is the correct trade. The 200-litre fuel tank is adequate for regional runs but small for long interior hauls; plan fuel stops accordingly.

3. Cargo body: what 7,800 × 2,450 × 600 mm really means

The listing gives an inner cargo-box dimension of 7,800 × 2,450 × 600 mm. Read carefully: the 600 mm is the platform side height, not the finished insulated box. The actual reefer volume is built up on top of this floor by your bodybuilder, so treat 600 mm as the chassis deck, not the usable height. The overall chassis dimension is 9,840 × 2,460 × 2,750 mm on a 5,750 mm wheelbase. For temperature-controlled food and fresh produce, agree the finished internal box dimensions — length, width, height and door configuration — with the body supplier before the chassis ships, because that is the number your payload and your temperature profile depend on.

4. The emission badge: Euro II is the number to check

The published emission standard is Euro II. For a refrigerated food-distribution truck in Côte d'Ivoire, that is a low badge and it is the item most likely to cause a problem at registration or with any future environmental requirement. The listing does not certify a higher level. Confirm in writing whether Euro II is acceptable for the permit and the operating zone you intend — if a stricter standard is required, this unit as published will not meet it and the price becomes secondary.

5. Cab, brakes and daily-use fittings

The cab is a half-bench-seat unit 2,200 mm wide with a flat roof and two seats, built for a driver plus occasional helper. Air conditioning is manual as standard with automatic listed as an option — in a tropical reefer operation the automatic option is worth specifying, because the cab and the box are both fighting heat. Brakes are front and rear drum on air, with ABS fitted, which is the right safety baseline for a 22-tonne loaded rigid. Suspension is leaf spring throughout, and the frame section is 250 mm. The truck is left-hand drive; confirm that matches the traffic configuration in your operating area before ordering.

Cargo Truck · Ivory Coast

Foton Aumark EST-M 4×2 — 22 T refrigerated chassis

Yuchai YC6A240-33, 7,225 cc · 177 PS · 900 Nm · Fast 8JS105TA 8-speed · final drive 4.875 · GVW 22,000 kg · 7× 11R22.5 · left-hand drive

Listed at $23,750 · Fresh food and refrigerated distribution

View full specification →

Axle-load law and the road reality in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast enforces the ECOWAS harmonised axle-load standard, with the statutory maxima of 10 t on a single steering axle, 18 t on a tandem and 24 t on a tridem, and gross combination weight capped around 50–55 t for a six-axle articulated rig. Abidjan is the region’s busiest container gateway, and the Port of Abidjan feeds the landlocked hinterland of Burkina Faso and Mali, so a truck that leaves the port overweight is weighed again at the interior checkpoints on the way north. The road north to Bouaké and the autoroute to the port are the corridors where compliance is actually tested.

For a reefer the weight discipline matters doubly, because a refrigerated body and the diesel for the unit eat into the legal payload before the first carton goes on, and a breakdown mid-run is spoilage, not just downtime.

What Ivorian fleets already run

In Ivory Coast the reference vehicle is a used Japanese truck — Isuzu, Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso dominate the second-hand market — with Sinotruk Howo and Shacman as the main Chinese competition and Tata on light rigid work. The used Japanese truck wins on parts density and driver familiarity, but loses on age and the rebuild cost that lands within a couple of years. The new Chinese truck wins on warranty but has to build a parts channel that is still thinner than the Japanese network. Foton’s pitch is the middle ground, and that is what a TCO-minded fleet buyer wants to hear.

6. Pre-order checklist for this Ivory Coast unit

Reconcile the engine output. The YC6A240-33 designation suggests a 240-class unit while the listing states 177 PS. Confirm the actual rated horsepower and torque in writing.

Confirm the emission level. Euro II is published; verify it meets the permit and operating-zone requirement for Côte d'Ivoire before committing.

Define the reefer box volume. The 7,800 × 2,450 × 600 mm figure is the platform; agree finished internal box dimensions with your bodybuilder first.

Specify the air conditioning. Manual is standard, automatic is optional; for tropical reefer work the automatic is the one to order.

Check the fuel range. A 200 L tank suits city and regional work but is tight for long interior runs; confirm whether a larger tank is available.

This Aumark EST-M is listed as a complete vehicle, which keeps per-unit import realistic, and the $23,750 is the published figure — a starting point for enquiry, not a landed cost that includes freight, duties, the reefer unit or the insulated body. Resolve the engine and emission questions above, then build the body around the answer.