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    Ritchie Bros. strengthens Australian auction operations as sellers navigate a complex used equipment market
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    Ritchie Bros. strengthens Australian auction operations as sellers navigate a complex used equipment market

    20 September 2026

    From long-distance transport and strict biosecurity requirements to reaching buyers around the world, selling equipment in Australia comes with its own operational challenges. Ritchie Bros.’ regional operations leaders explain how a 44-person team and decades of local knowledge turn a continent-sized challenge into a seller’s opportunity.

    [Perth, Australia – 21 September 2026] - Earlier this year, Ritchie Bros. took on a dispersal of close to 600 lots for a single seller – none of them at a Ritchie Bros. site, and the nearest company yard six hours’ drive away. The operations team built a week-by-week delivery plan, stationed staff on site for the best part of a month and sold the fleet simultaneously from the customer’s own locations and Ritchie Bros. Yards.
    “We ran that yard exactly as if it were a Ritchie Bros. site,” says John Collins, Regional Operations Manager for Australia South and New Zealand. “We planned for it, so delivering it wasn’t a surprise. It was just a hard slog and satisfying to pull off.”
    It is the kind of job that increasingly defines what sellers are buying when they consign equipment. In Australia, where distance, transport costs and biosecurity can quickly add complexity to a transaction, the work behind the auction can be just as important as the bidding itself.
    “Australia is almost as big as the whole of Europe, yet we run it with a small operational team,” says Andrew Chapman, Senior Regional Operations Manager for Australia and New Zealand, whose 44-strong operations force spans both countries. “It’s their ability to collaborate, their decades of experience and their willingness to pivot that sets us apart.”
    Andrew Chapman inspecting a screen plant

    Andrew Chapman inspecting a screen plant

    Taking the cost out of distance

    For Australian equipment sellers, geography is one of the first challenges.
    Since 2020, Ritchie Bros. has expanded from two Australian locations to eight yards across Australia and New Zealand, helping customers position equipment closer to where it is being sold.
    “From Geelong to our Queensland yard is around 1,790 kilometres - nearly 19 hours of driving,” Collins says. “Our satellite yards in between let customers deliver closer to home and take that cost out.”
    At A$3 to A$4 a kilometre, a single long-distance move can run into the thousands before a machine is even inspected. On large consignments, Ritchie Bros. has seen transport bills approaching A$100,000 included in purchase contracts.
    For sellers operating across a country the size of Australia, having a network of yards and local teams can therefore make a material difference to the cost and practicality of getting equipment to market.

    Managing Australia’s biosecurity and logistics challenges

    Distance is not the only challenge. Australia and New Zealand enforce some of the strictest biosecurity regimes in the world: a machine arriving with dirt, plant matter or grain aboard is held in quarantine for further cleaning — or turned around at the port and shipped back – with cleaning bills on the worst cases running to tens of thousands of dollars.
    The result reflects he scale of the market the Australian team can connect sellers to: equipment can be marketed locally while attracting buyers from around the world.
    Geelong yard in Australia

    Geelong yard in Australia

    That momentum now runs into the busiest stretch of the year. September, spring in the southern hemisphere, opens the run-in to harvest, and for five years Ritchie Bros. has held a dedicated agricultural sale in the month, staged alongside auction events across its international network — putting locally consigned equipment in front of buyers far from home.
    For the operations teams on the ground, the measure of the season is simpler.
    "Success looks like the results we deliver on the day," Chapman says, "and knowing every customer has been looked after well."
    The next Ritchie Bros. Australia National Unreserved Auction is scheduled for October 7-8, with more than 2,400 lots currently listed across multiple locations. Sellers looking to consign ahead of the summer season can start a conversation with the regional team here: rbauction.com.au/selling/sell-now.
    -Ends. -

    About Ritchie Bros.

    Ritchie Bros., an RB Global, Inc. (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) company, is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offering auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with weekly featured auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance® equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E, a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit rbauction.com or for more information on RB Global, visit rbglobal.com.