Carnival Corporation is to strengthen its security procedures through an agreement with international criminal police organisation Interpol.
The deal, claimed as a first for the maritime industry, will see advanced security screening across the group’s 10 brands and fleet of 101 ships that carry almost 11 million passengers a year to more than 700 ports around the world.
Carnival Corporation is to integrate its global passenger check-in process with Interpol’s I-Checkit system, a secure method for screening travel document information against its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database, containing more than 69 million records from 175 countries.
The agreement follows a three-month trial of I-Checkit on four Princess Cruises ships which included 34,000 travel documents that were successfully checked against the SLTD database to demonstrate the system’s ability to enhance security for the global cruise industry.
I-Checkit will be deployed across Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line and P&O Cruises in the UK and Australia.
Staff will be able to automatically query the SLTD database before and during the boarding process to see if any travel documents have been reported lost or stolen.
Interpol head of the I-Checkit system Micheal O’Connell said: “With its real-time secure global alert system, criminal intelligence potential and compliance framework, I-Checkit provides an invaluable preventative and investigative capability for global policing.
“I-Checkit’s initiative with Carnival Corporation offers an additional layer of safety in the travel sector by creating an international standard for security screening.”
Carnival Corporation chief maritime officer Bill Burke – a retired vice admiral of the US Navy – said: “One of our top priorities at Carnival Corporation is the safety and security of our guests, our crew and our ships.
“As the world’s largest cruise company carrying hundreds of thousands of daily passengers, having a highly effective and efficient security screening process is a crucial part of how we serve our guests every day.
Partnering with Interpol enables us to seamlessly enhance security across our global fleet while also maintaining our commitment to providing our guests with a great vacation experience.
“This is another important step for our company and industry as we continue taking proactive measures to enhance the safety and security of our passengers and crew members.”