Another explained just how difficult it is to hide away on board.
“It’s extremely difficult these days, security measures were overhauled worldwide in the aftermath of 9/11 with one of the key priorities being to prevent unauthorised personnel gaining access,” they wrote.
“Points of entry are strictly controlled and monitored, security at port facilities is much stricter, crew are trained to look for anyone behaving suspiciously, etc. The most common “strategy” people come up with for stowing away is getting on board legitimately and then simply staying on board without getting caught, but everybody on board is logged via key card and ships simply will not sail if anyone overstays their visit.
“If a deliberate stowaway is suspected, then an extensive missing persons search is conducted and covers all accessible areas.
“This procedure is based on the one in place for a bomb search, so needless to say a process designed to find small packages is even better for finding large people.”