Ritchie Brothers increased sales from over 1700 cranes sold in 2009 to 1870 last year, generating over $155m in gross auction income.
The firm attributes 70% of its sales to direct purchases at its network of 63 auction sites, with the remaining 30% coming from its online auction website, which was relaunched last year.
Ritchie Brothers president, Rob Mackay, commented: “We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of cranes being sold at our unreserved auctions around the world in the last couple of years, including several high-value cranes that have sold for in excess of one million dollars.
“What this suggests is the growing confidence of crane owners in the Ritchie Brothers business model and our ability to reach the right buyers and deliver maximum returns on the sale of their assets.”
Along with adding functionality and language support for more countries on its new website, the addition of auction sites in three new countries last year helped the auctioneers boost the number of buyers from 1270 in 2009 to 1350 in 2010.
Some particularly high value purchases helped to boost the firms overall sales income last year, including a 2006 Manitowoc 16000 440t crawler crane sold for $2.5m and a 2007 Liebherr LTM 1250 rough-terrain crane sold for $1.2 million.