14.06.2010

Crane sale breaks Ritchie records

Auctioneer Ritchie Bros has broke its record for the highest value equipment item ever sold. The record fell at the Denver auction last week, when more than 1,900 registered bidders from 32 countries, competed for 1,400 pieces of equipment, trucks and cranes.

The highest value equipment item sold in the auction was a 2006 Manitowoc 16000 440-ton self-erecting crawler crane. A buyer from California purchased the crane for $2.5 million. The same buyer also purchased the highest priced Rough Terrain crane in the auction-a 2007 Grove RT9130E 130-ton for $675,000.

Steve Merich, regional manager for Ritchies said: "The fact that we conducted a large crane auction last year and had a solid marketing strategy in place to advertise these cranes really paid off. Not only did we attract many on-site bidders on auction day interested in these cranes, but also we had equally strong interest online."

Prior to last week's Denver auction, the highest value equipment item ever sold at the site was an unused 2008 220-ton Manitowoc 14000 that sold for $1.75 million in October 2009. Both Manitowoc crawler cranes were consigned by Energy Transportation Inc., a Wyoming-based heavy haul and crane and rigging company.

Other late model Grove rough terrain and hydraulic truck cranes sold to out-of-state buyers in the Denver auction included a 2006 Grove TMS990E 90-ton 8x4x4 hydraulic truck crane purchased online by a buyer from Ontario, Canada and a 2008 Grove RT890 90-ton rough terrain crane and a 2007 Grove RT760E 60-ton rough terrain crane purchased by buyers from Ohio.