Ritchie Bros. and Euro Auctions. Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Online and live. These were the contrasts for the two biggest equipment and vehicle auctions of the Middle East in April.
Global plant and vehicle auction powerhouse Ritchie Bros. needs no introduction. The Canada-headquartered has the widest global footprint in the segment and millions of people in the PMV sector have sworn by the company down the decades when it comes to disposing off their equipment assets of acquiring new ones. Euro Auctions, a more recent entrant in the field, is also no pushover, however, and has established a global footprint that rivals its larger and older competitor.
But when it comes to their working methodologies, especially in recent times, the two have diverged quite a bit despite having followed the same business model with success for a long time. And this divergence is most apparent in their Middle East operations.
Both Ritchie Bros. and Euro Auctions have four sales in the region annually and have been doing so for a while. And until 2019, both were based in Dubai’s JAFZA and held live physical sales once every quarter.
But with the onset of Covid, Ritchie Bros., which had previously acquired online auctioneer Iron Planet, used its new arm’s online technologies to move its sales to a completely virtual model. And even after the pandemic, the auctions leader has not come back to the previous live model – or in its case a hybrid of live and online. Instead, all Ritchie Bros. auctions are now completely online, including its four annual Middle East sales.
Euro Auctions, however, was quick to come back to a live model once the pandemic eased and the situation allowed for live attendance at its events. It now follows a mixed approach, allowing both online bidding as well as onsite bidding at its live auction events.
But the differences do not end there. While initially, both auction houses were based in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone, Euro Auctions has, starting this year, moved to a new premises in Abu Dhabi’s KEZAD. The top Euro Auctions officials in the region believe that this move is in the best interests of the company as it makes it easier for its customers to visit its live auctions and pre-auction inspections due to the easier pass-free accessibility of premises in KEZAD when compared to JAFZA. This, as well as ease of shipping made the Northern Ireland headquartered company move to KEZAD late last year.
We take a look here at how the two largest equipment and vehicle auction houses have fared over recent times and how their respective models are serving them in their chosen venues.
Ritchie Bros. finds success in online model
With 1,225 bidders from around the globe bidding for the 1,041 items sold and a total of 270 of those bidders ending up as successful buyers, the Middle East auction in March at Ritchie Bros.‘ Dubai branch saw some great action that has made it a statistician’s delight.
Of course, despite taking place at Ritchie Bros.’ Middle East regional centre in Dubai, the action at the sale was all online, with Ritchie Bros. having moved to the online-only bidding model for a while now.
Some of the highlights of the online bidding wars at the leading global equipment and vehicle auctioneers and asset disposal company’s March sale in the Middle East were a Cat articulated dump truck, a Komatsu 40-tonne excavator and rigid dump trucks, Cat and Komatsu bulldozers, and a Vogele asphalt paver, among plenty of other pieces of equipment.
On the vehicles side of the sale, both commercial vehicles and passenger cars went under the hammer, with a MAN truck fetching a high price for its consignor, while cars such as an Audi A4 and a Toyota Land Cruiser were among those that were lapped up by buyers.
“The March sale at Ritchie Bros. Middle East in Dubai was a very successful one, with bidders coming from all over the world owing to our global reach,” said Shirin Bazargan, Regional Operations Manager at Ritchie Bros.’ Dubai office.
Global reach helps Ritchie Bros. customers
Bazargan pointed out some remarkable statistics that characterised the March auction, such as 66% of the bidders being international. This is a testament to Ritchie Bros.’ global reach, she added, and to how the online bidding and auction model helps sellers to dispose of their assets.
Of the total 1,225 bidders, a whopping 808 came from international territories, while UAE, the home turf, contributed 417.
While the UAE remained the country with the single largest number of bidders, the USA has been gaining ground swiftly and came in at a surprising second with 254 bidders, while Canada with 214 bidders made North America the region that contributed the highest number of bidders at the Dubai sale.
“At Ritchie Bros. we have a global reach, so when our bidders come from 83 countries, as they did at the March sale in Dubai, it is no surprise that other regions of the globe contributed more bidders,” said Bazargan.
Closer to home Saudi Arabia and Oman saw 34 and 15 bidders, ranking fourth and eighth respectively. Meanwhile, 26 bidders were from the UK, 21 from the Netherlands and 16 from India, to round off the top-10.
When it came buyer, however, the successful bids were overwhelmingly from the UAE, which had 187 of the 270 successful bidders. Saudi Arabia followed with 14 buyers, the USA with nine, India with seven and Oman with six to make up the top five.
The UAE was in the lead even when it came to the total number of lots sold at 796 of the total of 1041. Here, too, Saudi buyers, at 44, took home the second largest number of lots while Oman, the USA and India brought up the top five with 38, 21 and 20 respectively.
Ritchie Bros.’ wide presence
“Our online presence is a large one and is always on a growth trajectory,” Bazargan said while pointing out some other interesting stats from the web demand. With 1,255 registrations received online for the sale, there were a whopping 198,905 unique page views and 16,934 online watchlists were created.
“Our equipment page views started going up from around the second week of January, coinciding with the oncoming sales. They steadily went up, with increments almost daily, until by auctions week on March 1, they had hit almost 7,000 per day. This gives you an idea about how popular the Ritchie Bros. auctions are online.”
Vehicles outdid equipment when it came to searches, with automobiles and SUVs, such as Toyota Camry, Prado, Land Cruiser and Prius among some of the most popular items in terms of high page view numbers at the March sale.
On the machinery side, there was high interest in a JCB 3DX backhoe loader, unsurprising given the popularity of the machine and the brand in that segment. The 2018 3DX garnered 2.044 views, while a Terex crawler dozer was next with 2,023 views.
“These statistics aside, among the most exciting aspects of the sale, like any other auction, was to see the prices staying strong as more bidders joined the fray for a particular item on the virtual ramp,” Bazargan said.
High-value sales
Revealing some of the highest value single items sold, she said a 2018 Cat 745 articulated dumper and a 2018 Vogele Super S 1900-3 tracked asphalt paver both fetched $175,000, while a 2021 Komatsu PC400-8R hydraulic excavator went for $157,500 while a 2010 Cat D9R LRC crawler tractor was sold for $150,000.
Over on the vehicles side, a 2007 MAN TGA33 480 6×4 truck tractor was sold for $20,500 while a 2017 Toyota Land Cruiser went for $36,000.
“With our proactive territory managers and an entire ecosystem to help both buyers and sellers dispose of and acquire assets with ease, at Ritchie Bros. our Middle East auctions are buzzing affairs that look to continue gathering more steam with time,” concluded Bazargan.
Euro Auctions sticks to live auctions
A day of actual live auctions with a cross section of construction equipment representing various value segments characterised Euro Auctions’ fourth auction held at its new premises in Abu Dhabi’s KEZAD area, a location that it has made its permanent home in the UAE recently.
When PMV Middle East attended the March sale, Richard Sweatt, General Manager, Euro Auctions Middle East, explained that the decision to move to Abu Dhabi and to stick to live, in-person auctions when the competition has moved to the online model were both deliberate ones. And both were hastened by circumstance.
“We were already considering moving out of Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) in Dubai, where we were based since 2017, when Ritchie Bros. put in an offer to buy Euro Auctions. Since we always had an interest to move to KEZAD, after the sale was cancelled, we decided on the move,” Sweatt explained.
“KEZAD came up with this 44,000-square-metre yard for us and with the support of Abu Dhabi Customs and AD Ports, we were granted a Private Custom Bonded Warehouse area within our plot. This gives us the same benefits as being in a free zone area for importing and re-exporting. As we are onshore now, which we had ideally wanted to be, buyers and local sellers don’t need gate passes or permits to visit or deliver goods to our premises, which makes it easy for them, whether for inspections or for our sales.”
The new Euro Auctions site is also very close to Port Khalifa, where the port handling charges are competitive, Sweatt reveals. Some of the top shipping lines are also moving into Port Khalifa, easing transport further.
Move to KEZAD pays off for Euro Auctions
“Since our move to KEZAD, we are getting buyers that we did not have before. A gentleman in this March sale told me that he had never been to an auction before. He was looking online for some JCB machines, our name came up on the search, and he decided to come to our auction. He is an Abu Dhabi local and is very happy that our premises is here within Abu Dhabi. And we’ve actually had a lot of locals coming to our auctions in KEZAD,” Sweatt pointed out.
To house its offices at the new premises, Euro Auctions has constructed a brand new building, which it was to move into right after the March auction. “Our new admin building is now fully ready to move in. We are in the last few days of working out of our porta-cabin offices in the middle of the yard,” Sweatt said.
Perhaps surprisingly, Euro Auctions chose not to build an auction arena despite retaining live auctions. Explaining the reason, Sweatt adds: “We did this on purpose. An auction arena is a facility that is used only four times a year, so we felt that the space it would have occupied could be better utilised for other purposes.
“It is a block-paved surface that we will normally use for photographing and displaying stock, and only during auction days is it used as a ramp and auction arena with temporary structures as we have set up today, where our sales take place.”
Expansion plans
In an expansion phase soon, Euro Auctions will also build a workshop within the premises for minor work on the machines, but not full refurbishments.
“The workshop will be the next phase in customising this premises to our requirements. As far as engine overhauls and such, more substantial work is concerned – we can manage the process for the vendor or buyer.”
For customers who need to ship their purchases out after buying, Euro Auctions has three approved transport and logistics companies: CargoTrans, NMT and GAC.
“Any of these shippers can export your purchase from our site. It’s an easy process for customers we have CargoTrans, our nominated customs clearance agent, who can transfer all bonded yard items relatively quickly, making it as easy as possible for the buyer,” Sweatt explains.
“If you use a shipping company we don’t know, then a deposit will probably be required. When we get all the export clearance documents back after the items leave the country, any deposit will be returned.”
Coming to the vital decision of sticking to live auctions, Sweatt says Euro Auctions believes in this model.
Euro Auctions prefers it live
“We had live auctions even during Covid with special permission from JAFZA. Most of our competitors went completely online during the pandemic and have stuck to that format ever since. But we find that people enjoy the electric atmosphere of live auctions, whether seller or buyer.
“Sellers like to see their machines on the ramp and love to see people bidding on them. They like the prospect of 4-5 people in a bidding war over their machine. For buyers, you know who else is interested in items that you are interested in. And often this satisfies buyers that they are not paying too much for a machine, because they know how much others who are interested are willing to pay for it.”
There is also the social aspect of a live auction, he adds, especially in this region. “People here know each other, whether it’s a construction company or a trader, a mining firm or a rental company. And when they see each other at the auction they get to share news and views about their sectors.
“We do live, in-person auctions that are streamed live online. There are cameras on the ramp to telecast the machines going over the ramp; you can also bid online live or just watch the proceedings. So those who do not want to come to the auction — or are unable to — can register online and see/attend the action live on their computers at home or in office.”
Revealing the highlights of the March sale, Sweatt says: “It wasn’t the biggest number of lots we’ve had consigned – but it was really high value, nice quality units. One consignor put in a nice high-value package of 21 machines, and when that happened, some other such high-value packages followed.
“Several items sold for more than $100,000, notably some bulldozers and dump trucks. There were also some 70t and 80t excavators that fetched high prices. Another highlight was a bunch of JCB telehandlers, a mix of old and new units that sold for around 80-90 thousand US dollars.”