Ritchie Bros 900 cranes auction record

Written by Alex Dahm - 20 Jul 2010

Aerial view of a Ritchie Bros. auction site

Industrial equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has set a company record by selling 918 cranes between January and June 2010.

It beats the number sold by the company in any other January to June period in more than 50 years. Buyers were from 44 countries at unreserved auctions around the world. Around 72% of the cranes were purchased on-site and 28% were purchased online. Buyers from outside the region or country bought 79% of the cranes, Ritchie said.

At the 10 and 11 June auction in Colorado, USA a 440 US ton (400 tonne) capacity 2006 Manitowoc Model 16000 lattice boom crawler crane sold for US$2.5 million to a repeat buyer from California. In October 2009 that same buyer paid $1.2 million for a 220 US ton (200 tonne) capacity 2008 Manitowoc Model 14000 crawler crane. Both cranes were consigned by heavy haul and crane & rigging company Energy Transportation from Wyoming.

Other cranes sold in 2010 include more than 70 tower and all terrain cranes at the first auction at Ocana, Spain in early June. The largest crane there, a 2007 Liebherr LTM 1250 all terrain, sold for Euro 1.0 million (US$1.2 million) to an online buyer from Chile.