Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Middlesbrough
Teesside engineering is built around the process plants on the river. Pipework fabricators, pressure vessel shops, structural steel firms and machine shops on Riverside Park, Cannon Park, Skippers Lane and Cargo Fleet exist to build and maintain what the chemical sites and the offshore yards need. Their plant is heavy, and a lot of it is welding and forming kit rather than machine tools.
That changes how a sale is put together. A plate roll, a section bender, a pipe bending machine or a submerged arc welding column is bought by another fabricator, and fabricators bid on capacity. A big lathe or horizontal borer in the same shop is bought by a machine shop, and machine shops bid on condition and tooling.
We write the catalogue for both. Tell us what is in the shop through the contact form.
Welding and forming plant sells on capacity
A fabricator looking at the catalogue wants numbers. Plate rolls by width and plate thickness. Press brakes by length and tonnage. Pipe benders by the largest diameter and wall they will bend, and whether the mandrel set comes with them. Welding power sources by amperage and duty cycle, positioners by rated load, column and boom manipulators by reach and height.
We measure and photograph all of that on site rather than trust the plate on the machine, because plant on the Tees has often been modified over the years. Overhead cranes are listed with span, capacity, height of lift and the date of the last thorough examination, and we say whether the crane is included in the sale or belongs to the landlord.
Kit like this suits the other fabrication towns. Stockton, Hartlepool, Billingham and Darlington have shops doing similar work and sit an easy drive from a viewing day, and the sale is advertised to the fabrication trade across the UK.
Scrap weight is the floor, not the price
Middlesbrough has a large scrap trade, and when a fabrication shop closes there is usually someone offering to weigh the plant in. For anything that still runs, scrap is the floor under the price, not the price.
The difference is the market. A scrap merchant pays for tonnes. A fabricator or a machine shop pays for a working machine that saves them buying new, and what a serviceable plate roll or a good welding set makes depends on its condition, its specification and how easily it comes out. The mistake worth avoiding is deciding what is scrap before anyone has looked.
The riverside estates were laid out for heavy plant, with roads and hard standing to match, and each site is checked before the catalogue is written. Collection days are agreed once the sale closes, with the order set by the site so the yard keeps moving.
What these sales can include
- CNC turning centres
- CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
- Manual and toolroom lathes
- Milling machines
- Surface and cylindrical grinders
- Press brakes and guillotines
- Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
- Bandsaws and cold saws
- Radial arm and pillar drills
- Welding sets and positioners
- Coordinate measuring machines
- Tooling, chucks and workholding
- Compressors and dust extraction
- Cranes, hoists and forklifts
Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium
Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.
The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.
Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.
The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.
Questions about selling in Middlesbrough
- The site is being cleared for the landlord after a contract loss. How quickly can a fabrication shop be sold?
Six to eight weeks from the first visit to a cleared floor is a reasonable plan, with the lot count and the access deciding the detail. Cataloguing takes a few days, the sale runs for a week or two with a viewing day, and collection follows in a window we agree. Heavy fabrication plant takes longer to remove than machine tools, because cranes and multi axle trailers have to be booked, so that window needs the most room. Tell us the date the keys go back and we will propose a timetable from it.
- Most of our welding sets and positioners are hired in. Does that matter?
It matters a lot, because hired plant is not yours to sell. Before we catalogue we ask for the hire agreements and any finance schedules, and we tag the machines that are on hire so they stay out of the sale. The hire companies collect their own kit. Anything on hire purchase or lease remains the funder's property until it is settled, so it can only be catalogued with their agreement, and the settlement figure is usually paid from the proceeds. It is easier to sort at the start than on the collection day.
More questions about machinery auctions
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.