Car transport business Autocare, a subsidiary of LINX Cargo Care Group entered voluntary administration on February 4, 2021.
The business provided vehicle logistics services to Australia for the last 60 years, including rail transport between Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Darwin.
The company’s Autotainer was a purpose built wagon to carry taller, longer, and wider cars, as design preferences evolved. On its website, Autocare said that the company had a “strong emphasis on modal shift from road to rail”.
LINX CEO Anthony Jones said that the wider business was not in strife and that Autocare was particularly affected by the downturn in the market for vehicles in Australia.
“Importantly, Autocare Services’ current financial difficulties are not indicative or reflective of wider financial instability for LINX Cargo Care Group. As an operating Group, LINX Cargo Care Group remains unaffected by the appointment of voluntary administrators to Autocare Services and is in a sound financial position with the strong support of our shareholders and financiers,” said Jones.
“Autocare Services has been working closely with its customers, and the wider supply chain, to evolve the business in alignment with the changing market conditions however, the material movement and volatility has been heightened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
While there was a slight increase in vehicle sales in November and December of 2020, since 2017 there has been a sustained decline in the market, leading to a 22.9 per cent fall in new car sales since 2017. In 2020, sales declined by 13.7 compared with 2019.
Autocare will continue to operate during the administration period, and Jones said that voluntary administration would enable the business to be significantly restructured.
“Voluntary administration can provide Autocare Services with a pathway for the tough, but necessary, change it needs for the evolution of its business model to keep delivering services valued by customers today, and into the future, to the Australian automotive industry.”
Christopher Hill, Joseph Hansell, and Ross Blakeley of FTI Consulting have been appointed as the administrators.