Carnival Boosts Security with INTERPOL Checks

handshake — Chris Malo (left), head of global maritime security for Carnival Corporation, and Mick O'Connell (right), director of operational support and analysis for INTERPOL, shake hands.

In a first for the maritime industry, Carnival Corporation will screen passenger travel documents against INTERPOL's I-Checkit global security system.

INTERPOL's I-Checkit system is a secure method for screening travel document information against INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database, containing over 69 million records from 175 countries.

Carnival will incorporate the security screening across its global operations, including its 10 brands and fleet of 101 ships that annually carry nearly 11 million passengers, or about half the global cruise market, to more than 700 ports around the world. Carnival’s brands include Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).

The news follows a three-month I-Checkit pilot program on four of Carnival Corporation's Princess Cruises brand ships. The trial 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.

Carnival Corporation and INTERPOL are now working on a phased rollout of the I-Checkit system. As Carnival Corporation expands I-Checkit globally, it will be able to automatically query the SLTD database before and during the boarding process to see if any passenger travel documents have been reported lost or stolen. To ensure privacy and security, no personal data is accessed or transmitted in this process.

"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," said Michael O'Connell, director of INTERPOL's operational support and analysis directorate and head of the I-Checkit program. "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."