According to The Australian Financial Review, ports and rails group Asciano Ltd is offering a bright spot for the outlook of the resources sector, with Mr John Mullen CEO of the company's as saying that the fact that Asciano transported record volumes of goods in recent months should give Australians cause for optimism.

Asciano posted robust container volumes at its ports in October and November and its Patrick operations at Port Botany reporting record volumes in October.

In addition, Asciano's Pacific National rail group moved a record amount of coal to the Queensland port of Mackay in November.

Asciano said that whereas a year ago the company could forecast nine to 12 months ahead with confidence, it is now reluctant to forecast even a couple months ahead.

Mr Mullen said that “It's such a pendulum from doom to gloom. Even the customers don't totally know or understand what's going on that makes planning capacity difficult.”

He said that “Which trend do you take when you are [forecasting] into next year?”

But in general Mr Mullen said Australians had cause for optimism.

He added that “As a nation, we talk ourselves into [a downturn] so quickly. We're still exporting a huge amount of coal.”