25.04.2001

Going, going, gone!

Friday 23rd March, two days before bauma started, was a day of great excitement at Ritchie Bros’s auction site in Moerdijk, The Netherlands. Arrayed before the expectant crowd of registered buyers, 151 of whom were from the UK and Ireland, was a fleet of 130 mobile cranes.

In many ways this was a final chapter in the proud history of Grayston White & Sparrow, the company that ended up as Initial GWS. The crawler cranes were sold to Weldex and the mobiles to Ainscough earlier this year. Most of the cranes were from the GWS fleet and represented the largest number of cranes ever sold by Ritchie Bros. One of the largest to be sold was also the highest valued. It was a 300 tonne capacity Demag HC 920 which was built in 1990 and fetched US$300,000 (£207,000).

Other cranes sold during the auction included: a 1987, 140 tonne Liebherr LTM 1125/1140 which went for $155,000; a 70 tonne,1989, Krupp KMK 4070 which went for $102,500 and a 1990, 60 tonne PPM 680 ATT which fetched $75,000. Looking at the smaller capacities, a 35 tonne Krupp KMK 3035 built in 1989 made $58,000 while a 15 tonne capacity Grove AP415 from 1987 fetched $15,000.

Most of the cranes at the auction were sold to end users, many of whom had spent the previous day inspecting the cranes. This was apparent from the prices reached by five Kato NK200 E-3 20 tonne capacity cranes that were sold one after the other. The first was built in 1990 and went for $22,000. The second was built in 1991 but fetched just $16,500. The three others were all built in 1990 and reached $21,000, $22,500 and $20,500 respectively.

Also sold was a selection of access equipment which included a 1993 Haulotte H1200DX which went for $7500 and a 1993 H1000D which reached $6500. A 1992 Grove SM3884E made $4,500 while a 1994 Liftlux SR8316 made $5,500. Also on sale was a 1981 Grove MZ50 and a 1994 Simon Boxer 125D – these made $4,250 and $8,500 respectively.

All the equipment sold at the auction was CE marked and, as is always the case, was sold on an “as is, where is” basis – in other words no guarantee is given. Most of the cranes were however sold with some kind of service history.