Ritchie Bros. gains success in Texas auction

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers,  sold more than US$44 million of equipment items and trucks at a two-day unreserved public auction held at its permanent auction site in Fort Worth, Texas on March 5 & 6, 2013. New auction site records were set for total registered bidders (more than 3,900) and total online bidders (more than 2,300). Equipment highlights included a 2009 Freightliner Cascadia truck tractor that sold for US$49,000 and formed part of the professionally maintained, 23-truck Walmart fleet featured in the Fort Worth auction as well as a 2008 Caterpillar D8T crawler tractor that sold for US$282,500. In total, more than 3,100 equipment items and trucks were sold in the auction for more than 470 sellers - every item was sold to the highest bidder, without minimum bids or reserve prices.

"This auction offered one of the largest quantities of high-quality late-model equipment that I have seen at our auctions here in Fort Worth," said Adam Kawulok, regional sales manager, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. "The unprecedented number of late-model Caterpillar D8T crawler tractors and professionally maintained Walmart trucks that were sold is just a glimpse of the great collection of well-maintained, late-model equipment that we continue to offer at our Fort Worth auctions. And, with so many of the people bidding in our auctions being end-users, selection is very important for our buying customers. It's because of that and the ability of Ritchie Bros. to reach buyers from all over—as was shown by the multiple records set at this auction—that we create a competitive bidding environment which allows us to achieve strong values for the sale of our equipment."

Over 3,900 people from more than 60 countries, including 48 U.S. states, nine Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory, registered to bid in person or online in real time at the auction. Bidders from outside Texas purchased more than US$24 million (55 percent of total gross auction proceeds).

More than 2,300 of the bidders taking part in the auction registered to bid online and purchased more than US$19 million of equipment online (43% of total gross auction proceeds).