Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers have announced the results of four days of auction activity in Ocala and Orlando, FL. More than 2,700 trucks and equipment items were sold Feb. 18 to 21, 2003, generating approximately $50 million in gross auction sales.
"Prices were strong for most categories of trucks and equipment during all four days," said Rob Whitsit, senior vice president of Ritchie Bros. "We had very good quality machinery, and bidder from all over the world competed actively for it." The main consignors to the auctions were Ring Power Corporation, Ringhaver Equipment and Kelly Tractor, the three major Caterpillar dealers in Florida.
The first two days were held at the company's Ocala auction site, while the second two days were held at Ritchie Bros.' new Orlando facility.
The Orlando auction marked the official grand opening of the company's 132-acre (53 ha) auction site, which includes a 35,000-sq.-ft. auction building and theatre, which seats close to 1,000 bidders, a 34,000-sq.-ft. painting and refurbishing facility and administrative offices. The new facility, the company's 27th, is located on 44421 Hwy. 27 North in Davenport. This location is now one of the larger in the Ritchie Bros. network, and also features a truck and equipment storage yard.
There also is room for other on-site third party auction day services including catering, transportation and finance companies.
More than 2,800 registered to bid in the Orlando auction, breaking previous attendance records set by Ritchie Bros. Florida auctions.
Internet participation in the Florida sales was very strong. Internet bidders used the company's rbauction Bid-Live Internet bidding service to purchase more than $58-million worth of trucks and equipment over the four days. Internet bidders were buyer or runner-up bidder on approximately 20 percent of the lots offered online.
According to Ritchie Bros. Regional Manager, Bob Leavy, "Including both the Orlando and Ocala sales, there were bidders from more than 50 countries throughout the world as well as representation from every state in the United States and every Canadian province. This truly a global event.
"We had a lot of late model equipment with a large diversity of machines from all different kinds of manufacturers, which brought the world to Orlando. We had a large contingent of end users, which are willing to pay more for equipment and can put the machine immediately to work on Monday."
As far as the new facility, Leavy continued, "The local politicians and Chamber of Commerce board members from the area seemed to be ecstatic with Ritchie bros. and the quality of people that we bring to this area. From their initial perception of what was going to happen here when we said we were going to open an auction facility, to what really happens, I think they were totally impressed. The amount of money our people spend when they come here is good for the area economy. We've spent more money on the grounds here in Orlando than any other place in the world for Ritchie Bros. We went above and beyond to make this a beautiful facility and grounds, and people seemed to be very happy with our investment.
"I think the Florida sale can only get bigger and bigger. With the Orlando sale, we found that there were a lot of people who really didn't know about us. Situated on I-4 and Hwy. 27, we have tremendous visual exposure and we had more people come to this sale that we hadn't done business with before, that I think this trend will continue to grow," he said.
Ritchie Bros. has 30 unreserved public auctions scheduled over the next two months, many featuring live Internet bidding.
Information on equipment for auction and upcoming sales, including the March 24th auction of three fast ferries in Vancouver, British Columbia, is available on the company's Web site www.rbauction.com.
Ritchie Bros. is in its 40th year, and operates through 90 locations throughout the world.
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