LOS ANGELES – Proposed regulations recently discussed at a public meeting of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in San Diego generated additional consignments at an unreserved public auction held last week in Los Angeles. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers conducted the large industrial equipment and truck auction at its permanent auction site in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 22-24, 2007.

The three-day auction generated more than $41 million in gross auction sales and featured more than 2,900 lots from over 500 consignors — a new site record for a number of lots and sellers. Since the site opened in 2000, Ritchie Bros. has sold more than $500 million worth of trucks and equipment at its Los Angeles location.

Almost 2,600 registered bidders from 40 countries, including 43 U.S. states and all 10 Canadian provinces, attended the auction either in person or via the Internet. Close to 800 of the registered bidders participated in the auction live and online, using the company’s online bidding service, rbauctionBid-Live. A Los Angeles company Internet record was broken, with more than $12 million worth of trucks and equipment purchased online by 181 Internet buyers.

CARB held the public meeting to discuss proposed new regulations for off-road diesel-fueled equipment, including construction equipment. According to the CARB’s Diesel Risk Reduction Plan, the regulations are intended to reduce diesel particulate matter emissions by 75 percent by 2010, and 85 percent by 2020. CARB is expected to vote on the proposed regulations in July 2007. According to CARB’s April 2007 “Staff Report: Initial Statement of Reasons for Proposed Rulemaking,” there are 180,000 off-road diesel vehicles in California. If the vote passes, equipment covered by the new regulations will have to be retrofitted, re-powered or replaced — at the expense of equipment owners.

The auction featured trucks and industrial equipment from more than 500 consignors, including several million dollars worth of equipment from Skanska USA Civil, a leading provider of construction services in the United States.

The company also announced it has acquired property near Paris, France, on which it intends to construct a new permanent auction site. Although the company expects to have regular auctions at this location in 2007 and 2008, construction of the auction buildings will commence in 2007 with a view to a grand opening in 2008.

More than 35,000 items will be sold in 39 unreserved industrial auctions and 43 unreserved agricultural auctions coming up on the Ritchie Bros. auction calendar. The next unreserved auction in Los Angeles is scheduled for Aug. 28-29, 2007.