Ritchie Bros. Holds Record-Breaking Fort Worth Auction

Ritchie Bros. conducted 15 auctions in early December, including its largest-ever Fort Worth, Texas, auction, selling more than 5,850 pieces of equipment and trucks for $77+ million. Approximately 62% of the assets were sold to online buyers.

More than 8,300 bidders from 62 countries registered to bid in the two-day Fort Worth auction, including 6,750+ online bidders. Approximately 93% of the equipment in the auction was sold to U.S. buyers, while international buyers from as far away as Australia, China, and Egypt purchased 7%.

"We had a great selection of equipment, resulting in huge crowds and aggressive bidding both days of the auction," said Neal Black, regional sales manager (Fort Worth), Ritchie Bros. "We set new Fort Worth records for GTV, number of consignors, and number of bidders. We also set a new company record for number of truck tractors sold in a single auction—on day two alone, we sold 661 truck tractors for $15 million. We'd like to thank all our sellers and buyers in 2019; we look forward to helping you again in 2020."

On Dec. 12 through the 14, Ritchie Bros. held big auctions in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Los Angeles. The Los Angeles auction was the company's largest at the site in 12 years. More than 3,200 equipment items and trucks were sold in the two-day Los Angeles event for $40+ million. Approximately 95% of the equipment was sold to U.S. buyers, while international buyers from as far away as France, India, and Taiwan purchased 5% of the assets.

Closing out the week, with its sixth and final auction of 2019, Ritchie Bros.' Edmonton team sold 5,000+ items for $52+ million (CA$69+ million). This brings Edmonton's 2019 total to 49,200+ equipment items sold for $465+ million (CA$619+ million).

Ritchie Bros. also held several strong online events, with its IronPlanet and GovPlanet auction attracting 6,500+ bidders from 45 countries, while the company's Marketplace-E solution sold a 1999 Beechcraft B300 aircraft for $950,000 and a commercial property in Arizona for $7.6 million—a new record for the site.

Equipment sales highlights included:

A 2008 Liebherr LR1400/2 400-ton crawler crane sold for $860,000 in Fort Worth
A 2010 Caterpillar D9T dozer sold for $420,000 in Fort Worth
Two 2019 Peterbilt 567 mixer trucks sold for a combined $380,000 in Los Angeles
A 2017 Caterpillar 950M wheel loader sold for $200,000 in Los Angeles
A 2018 Tigercat X870D feller buncher sold for $355,000+ (CA$470,000) in Edmonton
A 2014 Kenworth C500 tri-drive sleeper Texas bed winch tractor sold for $196,000+ (CA$260,000) in Edmonton

Ritchie Bros. will conduct its final auctions of 2019 this week, selling 26,000 items for hundreds of owners, including 7,000+ items available through Marketplace-E. For more information, visit RitchieBros.com.