Ritchie Bros. Breaks Records in Orlando

Mon February 26, 2018 - National Edition
Construction Equipment Guide

Caterpillar wheel loaders go over the auction ramp at the Ritchie Bros. Orlando auction.

Skid steers roll over the ramp on day one of the Ritchie auction, which saw the largest Orlando attendance ever.

Enthusiasm for this year’s equipment lineup was demonstrated by a long line of people waiting to register. The line extended outside the door and into the parking area.

One of the monster machines at this year’s sale is a Caterpillar D 9T, which is getting a good look-over from Peter Le Gros (L) of Kent Farm Machinery, Ontario, Canada, and Matt Cassie of Nortrax Canada.

This Hamm compactor may find a new home with Sam Long (L) and Braden Herickhoff of AgTeck Drainage in Sauk Centre, Minn.

With a Terex Finlay screening plant (L-R) are Bill Watson of Watson General Contracting, Columbus, Ohio; Brett Suver, also of Watson General Contracting; and Joe Fitch of Joe Dirt, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Jerry Hulgan (L) and John Case, both from Trenton, Ga., and both farm owners, are looking at this Caterpillar D6N and other equipment on the first day of the Ritchie Bros. auction.

John Stewart, sales manager of Marcel Equipment Limited, Ontario, Canada, was very interested in bringing this Volvo A-30D water tanker back to Canada.

Marcel Morin, owner of Morin & Farms, Saint David, Maine, was very interested in this Caterpillar 938M wheel loader and was checking the auction book for more info.

Dave Whitney (L) of Whitney Excavating, Cornish, Mass., and Brent Anderson of Anderson Septic Service, West Baldwin, Maine, were both test driving this KCM 652V loader.

Austin Bruce of Central Florida Asphalt was having a good time taking this Bobcat skid steer for a spin before bidding on it for his business.

The American flag and Ritchie Bros. banner fly high above the auction.

Terry Miles, owner of Phoenix Dewatering, Lake Mary, Fla., needed a new forklift for his warehouse and he was considering this Case 586 H forklift.

Nancy and Jerry Booth of GT Booth Inc., Rochester, N.Y., are strongly considering this Caterpillar 924 F wheel loader for their excavation contracting business.

The U.S. military used this Caterpillar 120 M motorgrader and Brent Wilkins, superintendent of N.E. Wilkins Construction Co., Oxford, N.C., is inclined to using it, too, if the price is right.

John Sammons, retired veteran from City Wide Paving, Indianapolis, Ind., really wanted to take this Caterpillar D5K dozer home and get it working in his equipment fleet.

Orgill Dennis (L) and Ronald Bartley from Alumina Products Sales & Service, Mandeville, Jamaica, would like to put this Komatsu 85EX dozer to work back home.

Sonny Miryala of Hansen Shipping, Toronto, Canada, inspects this Caterpillar D6N dozer during the first day of the Ritchie Bros. sale.

A good crowd of bidders are on hand for the Ritchie Bros. auction in Orlando.

(L-R): Mark Kelso, Frank Hilton and Jim Boger of AIS Construction Equipment came in from Michigan to inspect the machines up for bid in the Ritchie Bros. yard.

Chad and Charles Munz of Redland Company, Homestead, Fla., consider a bid on this Komatsu WA600 wheel loader.

It was a family affair at the Ritchie auction as Cael and Bentley joined their mother and father, Robert and Amber Heed of RHL Companies, Montrose, Pa., to look for excavators and grinders.

Arthur Gottier (L) of Gottier Construction, based in Connecticut, and John Farney of Farney Tree & Excavating were on the hunt for land clearing equipment.

From Linder Industrial Machinery Co. are Bo Ross (L), used equipment manager, and Vince Aguayo, regional vice president.

Murf Murphy, Best Tractor Inc., Center Square, N.Y., and Mike Goffinet, Goffinet Equipment, New Lenox, Ill., meet up at the Ritchie sale.

The auction theater was packed all week at the Ritchie Bros. Orlando sale.

Cleveland Crane & Shovel’s Adam (L) and Bill Aurelius (R) and Andy Forepaugh, who came in from Cleveland, Ohio, for the Ritchie auction, were impressed with the number of cranes at the sale.

Caterpillar 966K wheel loaders roll across the auction ramp.

Caleb Phillips of Granite Mountain Machine, Conyers, Ga., considers a bid on a John Deere 250D articulated truck. “It’s a good, solid machine,” he said.

(L-R): Cory Dean, Steve Hudak and Craig Dean of Dean Construction in Smethport, Pa., said they’d like to add this John Deere 750K dozer to the company’s fleet.

Seen here checking out a Caterpillar CP433 vibratory compactor, Ben Sackrider of Sackrider Construction was on the lookout for compactors and trucks to put to work at his Petoskey, Mich.-based company

Michael and Scott Worthington of Worthy Parts, who were in contention to win the award for traveling the farthest distance to attend the Ritchie Bros. auction in Kissimmee, considered machines to take back to Australia for work in mining operations.

In from England to take in the auction (L-R) are Ben Walker of RV Shipping; Simon, Matthew and Matthew’s father John Rimmer of Boundary Plant; and John Diggens of Liebherr-Great Britain LTD.

Bell Trucks America’s Senior Vice President-Sales Kevin O’Donnell was on hand in Kissimmee to take in the Ritchie Bros. auction activities.

When it comes to attending to the needs of their customers, Ritchie Bros. covers all the bases, including lessons on how to bid.

The recent acquisition of Leake Auction has expanded the Ritchie Bros. touch into the classic car market. This 1963 Corvette is an example of many extraordinary classic collectible cars consigned by Leake and was available at the Florida sale.

Ted McKeon (L), president of Construction Equipment Guide, discusses extraordinary current market conditions with Bill Yurkovic, used equipment manager of Cleveland Brothers.

As one of the 380 rubber-tired loaders for sale at the Ritchie Bros. auction rolls over the ramp, highly skilled ring men work the crowd to ensure that each piece brings full value.

More than 150 cranes were sold at the Ritchie Bros. annual Orlando, Fla., auction.

Thousands of bidders in person and online attended the six-day unreserved public auction.

First time bidders line up to register. More than 12,000 lots were bid on.

Sixty-nine Bobcat skid steer loaders rolled over the auction ramp.

Lucien and Patricia Jordan of Tri County Paving Inc., based in West Jefferson, N.C., hoped to find a paver to supplement the company’s fleet of paving equipment.

More than 13,350 bidders from 90 countries registered to participate in the Orlando auction Feb. 19 to 24, 2018, including more than 8,600 online bidders who purchased more than $123 million (44 percent) of the equipment.

Greg Bryant of Bryant Land development in Burnsville, N.C., closely inspects a LeeBoy road widener.

Two used equipment veterans from New England track the action at this year’s Ritchie Bros. sale. Bryn Smith(L) of The N.I.C.E company and Ernie Thibeault of T-Quip Sales and Rentals.

Seth McGee (in cab) of McGee Construction and Tom Peters of Peters Construction, in from Maine, check out a CST 323F L excavator on the Ritchie yard.

In from Hayesville, N.C., Joe and Tony Ledford of Ledford and Parker Inc. consider a bid on this John Deere 544K wheel loader.

Ritchie Bros. consistently offers the strongest lineup of cranes during the Florida auction season.

This huge collection of compactors is ready to take the trip over the ramp.

GovPlanet offers government surplus items for sale every day.

More than 13,350 bidders from 90 countries registered to participate in the Orlando auction Feb. 19 to 24, 2018, including more than 8,600 online bidders who purchased more than $123 million (44 percent) of the equipment.

U.S. bidders purchased approximately 80 percent of the equipment in the auction, while international bidders from such countries as Canada, Mexico, Ecuador, Australia and China purchased 20 percent of the equipment.

“We created history last week, with a record $278-plus million auction, which was a 24 percent increase compared to the combined Ritchie Bros. and IronPlanet GTV from last year — a monumental event for the used heavy equipment and transportation sectors,” said Ravi Saligram, CEO, Ritchie Bros. “We consider this to be a barometer of both end-user demand, as well as superb execution of our sales, marketing and operations teams. Despite continued tightness of supply, which we expect to persist, our teams leveraged existing customer relationships, and penetrated new accounts. The auction results showcase the potential power of the Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers and IronPlanet combination and that the innovations we implemented in Orlando significantly enhanced the customer experience for sellers and buyers. I would like to thank our customers for their enduring trust and our employees who made this auction a tremendous success.”

Jeff Jeter, president of U.S. Sales of Ritchie Bros. added, “We are pleased with the execution of our sales team and encouraged by the strong price performance throughout the week through most equipment categories and sectors, continuing the trend we've seen in our events early this year, including our auctions in Phoenix, Houston and Tipton, as well as our weekly online auctions through IronPlanet. We sold 12 percent more lots this year compared to the combined Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers and IronPlanet Orlando auctions last February [2017] and saw a price per lot increase of 11 percent.”

Ritchie Bros. leveraged technology in new ways in Orlando this year to provide consignors more convenient selling options and offer buyers increased comfort and transparency into the auction process. For select items, the company offered a virtual consignment option to sell offsite items with IronClad Assurance, seamlessly integrating those items with the rest of the assets located in Orlando.

Ritchie Bros. also set up a huge tent in the yard with air-conditioning and seating for up to 700 bidders, providing comfort to bidders in a third auction ring instead of walking them item to item to sell out in the yard. And, for the first time ever, Ritchie Bros. brought its online auction clerks to Orlando to catch online bids right in the auction theater, providing transparency to its online process.

The record-breaking equipment selection in Orlando included

760 excavators
525 compactors
470-plus skid steers
more than 455 truck tractors
more than 380 loaders
365-plus boom & scissor lifts
more than 295 dozers
165-plus articulated dump trucks
more than 155 cranes
125-plus backhoes
and more

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