IDEMIA’s Biometric Facial Recognition Tech Sails to Miami, New Jersey Ports

“The solution we deployed in collaboration with CBP and Royal Caribbean demonstrates how facial recognition can simultaneously improve the customer experience and strengthen the U.S. Entry/Exit processes.” – Donnie Scott, Senior Vice President, Public Security for North America at IDEMIA

IDEMIA‘s biometric facial recognition technology is taking to the seas. The company has announced that it’s working with the Royal Caribbean cruise line and the US Customs and Border Protection agency to employ facial recognition for disembarking passengers.

Facial Recognition for the High Seas

The aim is to make the debarkation process faster and more secure, with the face of each passenger being quickly identified and matched against a roster of those who boarded a given ship at the start of a voyage. IDEMIA has been testing the technology with its partners at ports in Miami and New Jersey, and that they’re now proceeding to “commercial production”, according to a statement from the company.

“We received very positive guest feedback on the enhanced facilitated Customs process powered by facial biometric technology systems as it allows our passengers to seamlessly pass through the CBP inspection process,” explained Captain Thomas Hinderhofer, Royal Caribbean’s Director of Cape Liberty Cruise Port and Miami Cruise Terminal A.

Smooth Sailing for Biometric Entry/Exit

IDEMIA’s VP of Public Security for North America, Donnie Scott, added that the project “demonstrates how facial recognition can simultaneously improve the customer experience and strengthen the U.S. Entry/Exit processes.” The CBP has been steadily expanding its use of facial recognition for border control over the last few years, primarily at airports, but with land crossings and sea ports representing another key frontier.

Going forward, IDEMIA and Royal Caribbean say that they expect to bring this technology to additional ports in Florida this year, bringing it into play with several million additional passengers annually.

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April 8, 2019 – by Alex Perala