Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced the successful completion of two large unreserved auctions in Fort Worth, TX, and Moerdijk (Rotterdam), The Netherlands.

The three-day auction in Fort Worth on March 20-22 had gross auction sales in excess of $43 million with 957 buyers of 3,225 auction lots. More than 2,300 registered bidders from 17 countries attended the auction. Buyers from outside Texas purchased over 53 percent of the equipment.

The three-day auction in Moerdijk on March 21-23 had gross auction sales in excess of $24 million with 496 buyers of 2,658 auction lots. Over 1,100 bidders representing over 50 countries traveled to the auction facility just outside Rotterdam.

In order to provide greater service, Ritchie Bros. has recently finalized plans to develop a new permanent auction site in Florida. The company will soon begin development of the 135-acre site at the intersection of highways I4 and U.S. 27, half an hour southwest of

Orlando. The new site, complete with purpose-built auction facility and environmentally certified paint and refurbishment buildings is expected to replace the company’s Ocala auction site. Ritchie Bros. hopes to hold its first auction at the Orlando site in early 2002.