WWA's Keith Lupton speaks about the burgeoning used equipment market in the UAE, and across the wider region.
As global demand for machines is growing, this means good times for the Dubai-based auction houses. Keith Lupton, the director of World Wide Auctioneers surveys the machines waiting to be picked up from the auction his new site from the 'comfort' of has temporary demountable office.
They are mostly going to East Africa and locally, oddly enough. It hasn't always been the case, though. " he said.
"Iran come and go. India and Pakistan are buying at the moment as it is now easy to ship in to India, which was not the case for years. I think before, I had only sold to one Indian buyer before the rules change - and he had a lot of clout.
"Here (in Dubai) though, with the canal projects and all the construction, machines are in demand. Even low ground pressure vehiclesfor dredging that were normally very specialized, are now popular.
In the past, LGP 'dozers would sell in Abu Dhabi, but now with the man-made islands and dredging projects the machines are now popular throughout Dubai.
Meanwhile, Keith reminds us of the scarcity of tower cranes in the region. "The last one we had came from a site in Abu Dhabi. It was thirty years old and it sold for US $62 thousand.
I asked the owner if he still had the parts book and manual. He said 'For that kind of money, Keith, I shall search the warehouse!' It came from a large company and they were just amazed.
On the subject of cranes, Lupton points out; "The two big sellers of tower cranes are pretty occupied at the moment and are not putting them in auction.
In point of fact tower cranes have never been big auction items, as the always need to be at least semi erected, otherwise they look like an incomplete Meccano set worth perhaps ten dollars or something.
While towers are a rare sight in the auction yard, mobile cranes do appear from time to time, but values have changed, as have the brands in fashion.
"Tadano and Kato cranes sell well. Kato are always worth about ten percent less in Arabia, though there isn't a lot of difference. This is interesting, because ten years ago the magic word was Grove.
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