Ritchie Bros. Sells More Than 110 Cranes at Auctions

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Richmond, British Columbia, sold more than 110 cranes and millions of dollars of other heavy equipment and trucks at its unreserved public auctions last week, $52 million auction in Edmonton, Alberta, and a $41 million auction in Houston, Texas.

In Edmonton, more than 4,700 people from 18 countries registered to bid on-site and online at the auction. The auction included more than 4,100 heavy equipment items and trucks. Among the items sold were 33 hydraulic truck, crawler, rough terrain and other cranes, including two 2002 Liebherr 200-ton crawler cranes.

"We had a really international crowd in Edmonton last week, with active bidding on both days over the internet," said Jake Lawson, Ritchie Bros. regional manager. "We had a fantastic lineup of equipment to sell, including a large selection of cranes that attracted bidders from Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and all over North America to the site. Now that construction and oil field work in Alberta has slowed down a little, reaching that international market is even more important for equipment sellers."

Almost 2,700 people from 47 countries, including all 50 U.S. states, registered to bid at the Houston auction. More than 3,200 items were up for auction, including 56 cranes that sold to buyers from as far away as India and the Middle East.

"We had a huge foreign contingent bidding in person and online at our Houston auction," said Alan McVicker, Ritchie Bros. regional manager. "Cranes were definitely the highlight. The crane market is clearly still strong: prices were solid and they went to buyers from all over the world. Construction and transportation equipment also sold well. We're able to consign and sell more equipment from our new larger site, and our close proximity to the international airport and shipping terminals makes it easy for us to serve a worldwide customer base. Once again, that global audience helped us deliver strong returns for our consignors."