Ritchie Bros Auctioneers is set to celebrate the grand opening of its new auction facility at its Geelong site, including a new 2,489 m2 auction building, on March 19, 2013. Company officials will be joined by local dignitaries, who will cut the official grand opening ribbon during a mid-morning ceremony in the main auction theatre. More than 800 heavy equipment items and trucks are currently featured in the Geelong grand opening auction, with more items being added daily. All items will be sold unreserved to the highest bidders on auction day, regardless of price. “We have been conducting auctions in Geelong since 2009 and are proud to offer our customers a new state-of-the-art auction facility,” said Warwick Mackrell, Vice President, Sales, Ritchie Bros Auctioneers.
“The site was made with the purpose of making it as easy as possible for contractors to buy and sell equipment locally, across all of Australia and to markets around the world from this one location. And, as with all our unreserved auctions, we are open to the public so we invite everyone to come and check out the auction and the great selection of featured equipment.” The Geelong auction site is now over 40 acres and is located just off the Princes Freeway, less than an hour’s drive west of Melbourne. The new auction building consists of a registration area, a 670-seat main auction theatre where items are brought over a ramp in front of the seated crowd while being sold. There is also a 500-seat capacity Virtual Ramp theatre, where items are shown on a screen while being sold. All equipment items will be on site leading up to auction day, and interested buyers are encouraged to come to the site ahead of time to test and check out the equipment prior to auction day. Equipment highlights in the auction include hydraulic excavators, crawler tractors, wheel loaders, and articulated dump trucks.