Skip to main content

Ritchie Brothers hosts record-breaking auction

Auction firm Ritchie Bros has staged the world’s largest ever heavy equipment auction held between February 13 - 18. New records were set by Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers for gross auction proceeds (US$203million), number of lots sold (more than 10,000), total number of registered bidders (8,670), number of sellers (830), online gross auction proceeds (more than $47million) and number of online bidders (4,070). Every item during the six-day event in Orlando, Florida was sold to the highest bidder—regardless
April 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Auction firm 8031 Ritchie Bros has staged the world’s largest ever heavy equipment auction held between February 13 - 18.

New records were set by Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers for gross auction proceeds (US$203million), number of lots sold (more than 10,000), total number of registered bidders (8,670), number of sellers (830), online gross auction proceeds (more than $47million) and number of online bidders (4,070).

Every item during the six-day event in Orlando, Florida was sold to the highest bidder—regardless of price—without minimum bids or reserve prices.

"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," said Peter Blake, chief executive of Ritchie Bros.

"We saw multiple auction records broken during this event and, as with all our auctions, it was a truly global marketplace in Orlando. Bidder participation from within Florida and around the world helped sellers achieve true global market value on the sale of their equipment. We begin 2012 confident that we're providing compelling solutions and value to the world's builders.”

More than 8,670 registered bidders from 88 countries, including all 50 US states, all Canadian provinces and two territories, participated both in-person and online during the record-breaking Orlando auction. More than $160million (or 79%) was sold to buyers located outside the state of Florida and more than US$73 million (or 36%) was sold to buyers outside the United States. Items were sold for more than 830 sellers from across the United States and around the world.

Among heavy equipment auctioned off were a number of articulated dump trucks, wheel loaders, crawler tractors, hydraulic excavators, rollers, mixers, and compactors.

Online records were also set during the epic auction: more than 4,070 of the registered bidders participated online using the Ritchie Bros real-time online bidding service, purchasing more than $47million of equipment. Internet bidders were winner or runner up bidder on 44% of the lots available online.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The ERF had a key presence at the IRF World Meeting in Riyadh
    January 21, 2014
    Organised every four years, the IRF World Meeting has established itself as one of the most prestigious congresses for road transport professionals. The 17th IRF World Meeting has just concluded its deliberations and lived up to both its reputation and participants' expectations Held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the event attracted over 2000 participants across six continents that were present as exhibitors and/or had the opportunity to participate in many of the numerous high quality technical and scientific s
  • JCB announces record results for 2011
    January 6, 2017
    JCB CEO Alan Blake has reported record financial results for the UK machinery manufacturer. Turnover in 2011 rose to €3.33bn, 37% up on 2010, with earnings before tax of €430m from sales of 69,100 machines. Speaking at INTERMAT, Blake said: “The market has recovered by 80% since the last INTERMAT, mainly thanks to emerging markets. Russia is up 122%, India 24% and Brazil 10%. However, Western Europe has also improved, up 25% on last year.”
  • JCB announces record results for 2011
    April 19, 2012
    JCB CEO Alan Blake has reported record financial results for the UK machinery manufacturer. Turnover in 2011 rose to €3.33bn, 37% up on 2010, with earnings before tax of €430m from sales of 69,100 machines. Speaking at INTERMAT, Blake said: “The market has recovered by 80% since the last INTERMAT, mainly thanks to emerging markets. Russia is up 122%, India 24% and Brazil 10%. However, Western Europe has also improved, up 25% on last year.”
  • VDMA reports steady German equipment sector
    February 14, 2013
    Steady financial performance is claimed for the German equipment producers in 2012, according to the manufacturing association VDMA. The German construction equipment and building material machinery industry generated €12.5 billion in turnover during 2012 according to the latest results. Of this, construction equipment accounted for €7.9 billion, while €4.6 billion of business came from the building material, glass and ceramics machinery sector. This is a nominal decrease of around 1% compared to 2011. Afte