Asciano writedowns put brakes on AutoStrads
Australian port investor Asciano has delayed the roll out of its advanced AutoStrad automatic container straddle carrier positioning technology.
The delay – for an indeterminate time – follows the revelation of “impairment charges” that have caused Asciano to write down A$116m (US$100.7m) in goodwill on the value of Patrick Autocare and Patrick Container Ports.
The company said one of the impairment charges related to software, and “revised assumptions regarding the extent and pace of the roll-out of this technology to additional sites, and the resulting efficiency benefits”.
