OUNGRE, SASK. — The Hanson family is proceeding with another big sale.
Connor Kirby Trucking Ltd., owned in partnership by Kirby Hanson and his stepson Dustin Stepp, is up for unreserved public auction, slated for June 22. A timed auction starts on June 19.
Hanson started this business as a general oilfield hauling company back in 2007, and Stepp joined as a partner in 2014. Since then, they went from three employees and two winch trucks, up to 12 employees and 10 trucks at one point, Stepp said.
With winch trucks and gravel trailers, as well as other various equipment and gravel crushing pits, the company would serve the needs of the oilpatch when it came to moving rigs and hauling gravel, sand, clay, etc.
"We grew really fast just to try to keep up with the pipelines," Stepp said.
However, with the oilfield having some activity but not being overly busy, things have changed for the company as well.
"We haven't been overly busy lately. We like to have six or seven rigs to look after, and we had just three for quite a while," Stepp said "And then with the gravel and sand we've been steady, but just not making enough money. We keep getting underbid on jobs. And we don't want to keep doing what we're doing for little to no money."
The decision was made to sell off the equipment, and the preparations for the auction started. Even though Hanson has been retired for about a year since the family sold the farm at what appeared to be the biggest farm auction in Ritchie Bros. history anywhere in the world, he's been actively involved with getting everything ready for this sale lately.
After the previous positive experience with the company, the family turned to Ritchie Bros. once again and for the past several months, they all have been working towards the auction.
"This is a pretty substantial sale of this kind for southeastern Saskatchewan," said Brandon Luc., industrial territory manager with Ritchie Bros, who is working with the family on the sale.
"And the quality of the equipment and the care the Hanson family takes of their equipment is something unusual. A lot of people care about their equipment, but these guys really go the whole way to make sure that it's in good condition."
Luc added Ritchie Bros. Auctioneering was glad the family chose them once again for their needs. The auctioneering company has global outreach, and they expect interest from all over the world, as the equipment can be easily shipped to buyers.
"The land is where it is, you can't move that piece of land, where their equipment is, especially some of the crushing gear and other stuff, can be transported across the world, which opens up a bigger area," Luc noted.
"We'll see bidders from all over the world at Connor Kirby [Trucking] sale just based on the equipment that they have there."
Connor Kirby Trucking’s yard and gravel pits are located along Highway 35, a few kilometres south of Oungre. Auction sites are open for equipment inspection before auction day. The gravel crushing operation is located on four quarters of land. Stepp noted that the land is not being sold. They are currently reclaiming it, so it can be rented out and used for farming.
The leftover gravel will be up for sale after the auction until it's all gone, Stepp said.
The entire auction will be done online.
The bidding items and auction details can be found at the Ritchie Bros website under Connor Kirby Trucking Ltd.
