MIAMI — In a first for the maritime industry, Carnival Corporation & plc has announced a new partnership with INTERPOL that will lead to advanced security screening across its global operations. This includes its 10 brands and fleet of 101 ships that annually carry nearly 11 million passengers, or about half the global cruise market.

Earlier this month, Carnival Corporation received approval to integrate its global passenger check-in process with INTERPOL’s I-Checkit system, 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.

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 together to roll out the I-Checkit system across Carnival Corporation’s brands, which 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).

All brands will thus 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.

“One of our top priorities at Carnival Corporation is the safety and security of our guests, our crew and our ships,” said Bill Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corporation and retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy. “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.”