Ritchie Bros. will be holding an auction in Grande Prairie next week, with a plethora of NTL Pipelines Inc. equipment hitting the auction block. According to officials, the company is set to sell over 900 items for NTL Pipelines as part of its recent closure.
“We have always taken great care of our equipment and have provided Ritchie Bros. 400-500 documents outlining maintenance records, work orders, and certifications for our assets—we want buyers to know that our equipment is ready to go to work right away,” says NTL Pipelines Owner John Neudorf in a prepared statement.
Neudorf adds all of the proceeds from one of the pipelayers on the block, painted pink, will go towards the Community Foundation of Northwest Alberta Eva Marie Fund in support of men and women fighting cancer in Alberta.
“This auction we are also parting with our pink pipelayer, which was painted in tribute to my sister Eva Marie, who sadly lost her battle with cancer,” he says. “For the past year this pipelayer has been the first one on and last to leave the job site and we have donated any revenue it has generated to a charitable foundation established in my sister’s honour.”
NTL Pipelines ceased operations in October 2020. Former employees took to social media, claiming an internal vote by employees on whether to introduce a union influenced the decision. MyGrandePrairieNow.com made several attempts to contact Neudorf and other officials and did not receive a response.
Former President of the Grande Prairie Petroleum Association Rob Petrone says there is a definite impact on the local community from the shutdown, as he believes around 800 people were laid off as part of it.
“When you have a big, well-established company like that to sell and shut down, that has a huge impact not only on the industry and the services they provide, but the people working for them, the families, and the communities they support.”
“NTL was always a huge supporter of the community… it has long-reaching impacts when you see a big company like that decide to shut down,” he adds.
The auction is set to run online from November 23rd to November 26th. A full list of available items up for auction is up on the Richie Bros. website.
