The world's leading auctioneer of industrial equipment, Vancouver-based Ritchie Bros, now has its own permanent facility in the Middle East with the inauguration of its site at the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafz) in Dubai by chairman of Jafz and managing director of Dubai Ports Authority Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
The opening coincided with an auction Ritchie Bros conducted at the site, its second there. The first, held in April even while the facility was being readied for an official opening, grossed Dh62.5 million ($17 million). Ritchie Bros has been conducting auctions in Dubai since November 1997 and has recorded total sales of Dh588.8 million ($160 million), sales manager Stephen H. Branch said.
The Jafz facility, the company's only one in the Middle East, has been set up at a cost of Dh12.88 million ($3.5 million). The auction theatre is spread over 1,800 sq m and has a seating arrangement for 700, while the site occupies a 100,000 sq m of leased land. In addition to the auction theatre, there is an administrative block and a 2,000 sq m workshop and refurbishing centre complete with sandblasting and repair facilities.
The Jafz centre caters to the Middle East, Africa, the subcontinent and the Commonwealth of Independent States. But Branch talked of a move to start operations in Aqaba next year which, he said, was in anticipation of upcoming opportunities in the region.
Ritchie Bros sells a broad range of used industrial equipment including equipment used in the construction, transportation, mining, forestry, petroleum and agricultural industries. A public company, its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RBA.
Established in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, in 1963, the company operates through 80 locations and sells equipment through unreserved public auctions. This implies there is no minimum price, and owners and any associates are forbidden by contract from bidding on their own equipment. Only legitimate bidders are able to raise the price at a Ritchie Bros auction. Sales for 1999 were put at $1 billion.
