Ritchie Bros. holds world’s largest heavy equipment sell- off

Vancouver- based Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers last week held the world’s largest heavy equipment auction in Orlando, Fla., setting several company records including gross auction proceeds of over $ 200 million US.

“It’s a nice milestone for us to achieve and one that we’re very proud of,” Ritchie Bros. CEO Peter Blake said Monday of the auction, which was held from Feb. 13 to Saturday. “Our previous record was in ’ 08. That was $ 190 million US in gross auction proceeds, which is the value of everything sold at the auction.

“In more than 50 years of business we have never held or seen an equipment auction of this magnitude, and we thank our customers and our staff for being part of this historic week.”

According to Ritchie, new records set in the auction included gross auction proceeds ($ 203 million US), number of lots, or items, sold ( more than 10,000), total number of registered bidders ( 8,670), number of sellers ( 830), online gross auction proceeds ( more than $ 47 million US) and number of online bidders ( 4,070). Every item in the six- day auction was sold to the highest bidder — regardless of price — without minimum bids or reserve prices.

As well, there were bidders from 88 countries, with more than $ 160 million ( or 79 per cent) sold to buyers outside Florida and more than $ 73 million ( or 36 per cent) sold to buyers outside the U. S.

Blake said the auction is an indication that U. S. companies are leaving the recession behind and that the market for heavy equipment is growing.