A freight forwarding company in a commercial dispute with bike-share operator ofo is apparently planning to sell off a warehouse's worth of new ofo bicycles, which had been shipped over from China. But ofo said it has agreed to pay the 'relevant fees' for the services provided by the freight company - which it did not name - and labels the actions the latter has taken as 'unduly aggressive', given that both parties are still in talks.
A flier advertising the sale of ofo's yellow two-wheelers, starting at $50, has been making its round on the Internet over the weekend. The sale, to be held between 15th and 17th June, will take place at 5 Tuas Avenue 3, at a warehouse space rented from Bok Seng Logistics.
It is believed about 9,000 bicycles are currently housed there.
A Bok Seng Logistics spokesman said the company had not been informed formally by any related parties of the planned sale, and it has not authorised the event. "Therefore, no sales will be conducted on the mentioned dates," the Bok Seng Logistics spokesman added.
ofo's Head of Policy and Communications for South East Asia Christopher Hilton said ofo is considering its legal options but at the same time 'working in good faith' to avoid a sale of the bicycles. "In ofo's view, such a sale is being unreasonably pursued to gain leverage in completing ongoing commercial discussions," Mr. Hilton said.
The sale of ofo's bicycles was first reported by Chinese technology website TechNode, which cited sources claiming that ofo was selling its bikes to downsize its operations in Singapore, and was facing a cash crunch. ofo's Mr Hilton said, "The flier/advertisement was not created by ofo and does not reflect an official ofo position."
There are about 100,000 dockless shared bicycles in Singapore, supplied by six companies: Mobike, oBike, ofo, SG Bike, ShareBikeSG, and Anywheel. The competition appears to have claimed its first casualty, with the one-year-old GBikes to pull out on 7th July.
