Ritchie Debuts New Inspection Tool During Annual Six-Day Auction in Orlando

Tue March 01, 2022 - National Edition #5
Ritchie Bros.

Mid-sized excavators are lined up and ready to go.

Amid a tight supply environment, Ritchie Bros. welcomed thousands of motivated buyers online and on site to its global equipment event in Orlando, Fla.

Buyers from around the world needing to fill immediate gaps in their fleets converged for the auction, creating strong pricing for equipment items and trucks. When the auction yard dust settled, Ritchie Bros. sold more than 11,200 items for $213 million in the six-day event.

Ritchie Bros. introduced a new online inspection tool that provided users with a 360-degree view of items selling, as well as an enhanced sale-day experience with live videos and bidder maps. Bidders also were able to take advantage of a new mobile experience for online bidding.

"It was a thrill to bring people together in Orlando and see those important network connections in action," said Ann Fandozzi, chief executive officer of Ritchie Bros. "It was exciting to welcome everyone back with an amazing customer appreciation event to kick off the week. Customers from all over had an opportunity to interact with each other, re-establish long-standing Ritchie Bros. relationships and meet new members of our team. It showed once again that Orlando is more than an auction.

"We continue to work hard to evolve our sale-day experience, bringing together the best of both worlds — online and on site — and it was great to hear so much positive feedback," added Fandozzi. "The technology we are providing continues to improve the buyer experience and we believe that contributed to the strong pricing we saw this week."

Buyer demand for the Feb. 21 to 26, 2022 auction also was strong, with a site-record of more than 26,200 bidders from 86 countries participating. Equipment views per lot increased 45 percent year-over-year from last year's Orlando auction.

Ritchie Bros.' Orlando site featured 200 acres packed with equipment. More than 1,130 consignors sold equipment located at the site, and virtually from six different Ritchie Bros. satellite yard locations, giving sellers an opportunity to reach Orlando's global buyer audience. In a market environment where equipment is in short supply, buyers had a wide selection to choose from, including more than 400 excavators, more than 390 compactors, more than 230 skid steer loaders, more than 230 wheel loaders, more than 180 dozers, more than 100 cranes, more than 400 boom & scissor lifts and more than 370 truck tractors. Lots sold in the core categories of construction and transportation at Orlando were up year-over-year — more than 7,000 lots in 2022 versus more than 6,900 lots in 2021.

Specific late-model highlights included a 2019 Caterpillar 745 articulated dump truck that sold for $405,000; a 2018 Cat D8T that sold for $430,000; and a 2019 Cat 336 tracked excavator that sold for $267,500.

Approximately 84 percent of the equipment in the Orlando auction was purchased by U.S. buyers, including 22 percent purchased by Florida buyers. The remaining 16 percent of the equipment was sold to international buyers from as far away as Australia, Brazil, Germany and Japan.

Among the sellers at Orlando this year was Florida-based Ring Power Corp. and Vallencourt Construction.

"Orlando was a great sale," said Frank Streva III, senior vice president of Ring Power Corp. "It was good to see all the buyers and sellers there at the event that kicks off the auction season. We sold everything from skid steers up to D8 dozers at the auction, had lots of bidding activity, and we had very strong pricing – we were very happy with the outcome."

"At this year's auction, we sold excavators, bulldozers, trucks, off-road trucks, attachments and more," said Daniel Vallencourt, vice president of Vallencourt Construction. "We've been doing business with Ritchie Bros. for 30 years, and they're always up front with us, treat us right, no surprises and we were glad to be back in Orlando."

Orlando capped off a big February for Ritchie Bros. After starting its auction season in Tipton, Calif., Ritchie Bros. went on to conduct a $59-million record-breaking Phoenix auction and a $55-million Houston auction.

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