Biometric Border Screening Kiosks Take to the Seas

Ferries del Caribe has become the first cruise line operator in the world to implement biometric border control kiosks onboard its ships.

The deployments are the product of a collaboration with Vancouver International Airport’s (YVR) Innovative Travel Solutions (ITS), and the culmination of a five-month trial program initiated last year. The ‘BorderXpress’ kiosks are, in turn, part of the airport’s efforts to comply with the Canada Border Service Agency’s Primary Inspection Kiosk program, which is aimed at expanding the use of automated traveler screening systems.

The kiosks are designed to let passengers fill out their customs declaration on their screens, and to scan their passports for electronic submission to border authorities. The kiosks also use facial recognition to compare passengers’ faces to the images in their passports, verifying that they are in fact the authorized passport holders. When the process is complete, a receipt is printed for passengers to take to border agents for verification.

The impact of the Ferries del Caribe deployment will be far reaching, with the cruise line operating from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, and the BorderXpress kiosks available for use to Canadian and US citizens, US permanent residents, Visa Waiver Program participants, and B1/B2 and D visa passport holders.

Meanwhile, the US Customs and Border Protection agency initiated its own trial of biometric screening at sea ports in collaboration with Royal Caribbean Cruises in November of last year, signalling the beginning of an expanding sea port program in America.

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January 30, 2018 – by Alex Perala