Top 5 Construction Equipment Shipped 2020
Our Insights for 2020
Check Trusted Dispatch’s list of the top 5 construction equipment items shipped in 2020 in North America.
Construction equipment sales have slipped since April 2020. Because it became obvious to most people that the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t going to be a short blip, followed by a return to life as usual.
The good news was construction being deemed an essential service. That meant industry was allowed to continue with few interruptions. But construction companies did see delays to schedules as crew caught Covid and had to quarantine for two weeks.
They also saw their backlogs decrease because clients delayed or dropped upcoming projects. Plus, social distancing rules and other new health and safety measures changed working conditions, so that negatively affected timelines.
The combination of increased project costs with decreased revenue expectations curbed a lot of equipment investment. Instead of buying new equipment, companies often rented or even purchased used equipment.
Industry Detail
Several analysts have cited a shortage of capital and financial insecurities. Decreasing construction equipment sales.
A report by research group FACT.MR states “the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause an 18 percent decline in the unit sales of heavy equipment in 2020. Due to the decline in manufacturing, operations, and distribution centers across the globe”.
According to research group, Market Study Report, LLC., the North American construction equipment market is estimated to reach a valuation of USD 33 billion by the year 2026. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly four percent.
That report states growth can be credited to a booming construction sector and rising renovation and maintenance activities of existing infrastructure in North America.
The federal governments of both Canada and the United States continue to increase their commitments to infrastructure investment and maintenance.
Popular construction machinery
Types include Excavators, Loaders and Trucks.
By examining Ritchie Bros. auction results for Canada for the past two years, we can see the number of construction equipment by product type that were purchased from auctions:
- Excavators: 3,000
- Wheel loaders: 2,000
- Dozers: 1,600
- Skid steer loaders: 1,300
- Asphalt compactors: 1,200
- Compact track loaders: 800
- Articulated dump trucks: 750
- Mini excavators: 750
- Motor graders: 750
- Backhoes: 700
Shipping construction equipment
Total equipment sold by category doesn’t match top construction equipment shipped in 2020 figures. Because some machines are more likely to be moved to many jobsites during its lifespan, whereas some machine largely stay put.
Large dozers, for example, may be committed to a single jobsite, such as dozers going into waste applications, for its entire first life.
Also, some construction machinery, such as trucks and wheeled excavators can go from jobsite to jobsite on their own.
Here are the top 5 construction equipment that gets shipped the most frequently:
- Excavators
- Wheel loaders
- Asphalt compactors
- Skid steer loaders
- Mini excavators
Compact equipment gets shipped more often. Like Mini Excavators, or Skid Steers. They are more likely to be used on projects with shorter completion times, such as landscaping.
Although large Excavators tend to stay on projects for a larger duration and therefore don’t get shipped as often. But the sheer number of large excavators in the field compared to compact equipment is so great the machine makes the top five list.
Asphalt Compactors get shipped frequently, because they are used only in the final stage of a project and their work is completed in a short time. Plus, in every highway paving train, there is only one paver, but three compactors.
So, compactors get shipped a lot.
The cost of shipping construction equipment
When you need to transport construction equipment, you want to get an affordable quote from a trusted professional.
You also want the process of finding that trusted, and vetted driver to be fast and easy.
With Trusted Dispatch, you can get a quote on shipping your construction equipment instantly. And the process is easy.
Just go to the company’s “Get a Quote” page. Fill in the pick-up and drop-off locations and the machine make and model.
Trusted Dispatch’s convenient Spec Tool automatically inputs the machine’s weight and dimensions (length, width and height). This bypasses the tedious process of looking up the machine specs.
Then, you instantly get a quote; Trusted Dispatch’s proprietary algorithm determines a fair price based on distance, load and professional truck driving rates.
Find out more about how Trusted Dispatch can save you money the next time you’re shipping construction equipment, and see why Trusted Dispatch is the fastest growing truckload board in North America for heavy hauling.
