Vancouver Port Uses Facial Recognition for Onboarding—Literally

Vancouver has introduced biometric face-scanning technology for cruise ship boarding, developed by Pangiam and implemented at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Passengers on Vancouver-departing cruise ships are now scanned using iPad-like devices held by CBP agents. The devices capture passenger photos and compare them to pre-trip travel documentation for verification.

This system was developed by Virginia-based Pangiam, a division of BigBear.ai, and replaces the previous passport-scanning kiosks and is available for Canadian and American citizens only, while nationals of other countries will continue with manual document checks. Passengers can also opt-out of the biometric system and choose manual inspection by notifying a Canada Place cruise terminal representative.

“Our approach uses state-of-the-art computer vision and AI (artificial intelligence) to capture accurate facial recognition in real time, and instantly transmits to secure biometric matching services, ensuring immediate passenger identity verification,” said Kevin McAleenan, president of BigBear.ai.

The VFPA stated that the cost of implementing the new technology was “marginal” and that staffing levels at the cruise terminal remain unchanged. SSA Marine supports the program, managing operations at the Canada Place cruise terminal.

The VFPA noted that this technology is being used for the first time for embarkation, though 20 U.S. cruise-ship terminals use facial biometric scanning for disembarkation.

Outside of North America, MISC Cruises recently announced it would be using Neurotechnology’s Face Verification system by integrating it with the MSC for Me mobile application and MSC web portal.

Source: BIV

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June 19, 2024 – by Tony Bitzionis