More than 8800 items were sold to online and in-attendance bidders. The auction broke records with more than $US54 million in grossed auction proceeds online, totalling 33% of the total proceeds.

There were also record numbers of online registered bidders, online buyers and new onsite records of more than 830.

Every item was sold during the six-day unreserved public auction.

Richie Bros CEO Peter Blake said recent events affected the auction.

“Due to the severe winter weather that hit the northeastern US in recent weeks, many of the sellers from the region who normally participate in the auction were unable to free up equipment from their job sites to add to last week's auction,” he said.

“We also noticed a lower volume of cranes in this year's inventory due to higher construction activity in the non-residential market.

“However, simultaneously we saw a more diverse and larger selection of equipment from the energy and transportation equipment categories than previous years.”

Florida-based Ring Power Corporation sold more than 140 heavy-construction and rental-type items at the auction.

Vice-president Dennis Ryan said the auction attracted buyers from across the globe, with bids coming in from Latin America, the Middle East and across the US. Prices and volume of sales exceeded expectations.

In total, there were more than 8640 registered bidders from 84 countries resulting in more than 1000 sales. The success of this auction continues the company’s run through 2013, with $US3.8 billion of heavy equipment bought and sold that year.