Latest ONI Worldwise Threat to Shipping Report (to 7 June 06)

Latest ONBI Worldwide Treats to Shipping Report found here. Click on appropriate date or visit here. Some highlights include reports beginning levels of cooperation among several Afican states:

According to reporting dated 2 June,
West and Central African states are planning to create
a joint coastguard force to fight piracy, pollution, illegal fishing
and clandestine migration along their shores. Magnus Teye Addico,
secretary-general of the Maritime Organization of West and Central
Africa (MOWCA), told Reuters the integrated force would be
operational from mid-2007. Under the integrated coastal security
plan, up to six countries along a different sector of the coast would
carry out joint patrols with the right of hot pursuit.
***
Reportedly, it is estimated that $1 billion is lost annually
to illegal fishing off sub-Saharan Africa and that Nigeria looses at
least $1.5 billion per year in cargoes of stolen crude oil. Addico
indicated that the integrated coastguard could help with all kinds of
emergency and rescue work and that the region would seek
international financial backing for the project.

And, a very interesting report of the recovery of some highjacked vessels from the Philippines:

Per 6 Jun reporting, Police recovered two
Indonesian-owned hijacked vessels on May 16, following the arrest
of their 11 Indonesian crew members, who had commandeered and sold
the vessels in the Philippines. Found in Davao, in southern
Philippines, was the Malaysian-registered tug Martha Dini (194 gt,
built 2005). The Indonesian-registered barge Sentana V was
recovered in a shipyard in Sangat, San Fernando town, in Cebu
province, in central Philippines. Both vessels names had been
changed and bodies repainted. The vessels are owned by Indonesian-
based Piti Multi Jaya Samudera. The vessels, with a combined crew
of 12, reportedly left the Indonesia port of Sumatra on Apr 13, for
Kalimantan for dry-docking. The crew, however, brought the vessels
to the Philippines, where they were sold to an undisclosed buyer.
Both vessels have been returned to their Indonesian owner. The
crime would have gone unnoticed except for the untimely death of
one of the hijackers, who suffered a fatal heart attack in Cebu
City. The remaining hijackers were arrested by local police when
they tried to dispose of the body (LL).

And, as follow up to a report over a controversy over alleged pirate attacks in the Philippines (see para 5.K.5 of the ONI report or here or here), the governor of Masbate has offered to mediate the dispute according to this.