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

  • Interviews round-up
    March 19, 2012
    Investment in infrastructure is a key priority for the US. With a three-part growth strategy, business improving worldwide and improvements in order books, the Terex Group is looking to increase net sales to US$8 billion by 2013. Ron DeFeo, Terex’s chief operating officer, said the company has been seeing increased order and quotation activity across nearly all of its product categories.
  • HxGN Live 2014 attracts record event numbers
    August 28, 2014
    Attracting an HxGN Live event record-breaking 3,500 attendees, HxGN Live 2014 held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, US, June 2-5 showcased exciting new and in-demand design, measurement and visualisation technologies for industries including road construction and mining. Themed Great Stories Start Here, this year’s event also included a variety of exclusive presentations by industry experts, hands-on training, inspiring keynotes and international networking opportunities. Guy Woodford reports In
  • Construction equipment launched at Bauma China
    February 15, 2012
    The 2010 bauma China event did, as expected, break all previous records, with companies launching more new equipment than ever. Patrick Smith reports. The queues at the entrances on the first day of bauma China 2010 indicated what the rest of the week had in store. As thousands of visitors poured through the gates each day to view the latest in construction equipment at the expanded Shanghai New International Expo Centre, the organisers knew they were looking at another successful event.
  • A successful bauma 2025 show
    April 15, 2025
    The bauma 2025 exhibition was a great successful according to the VDMA.