In essence, the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2003 is a revision of the 1958 Convention, which culminated in the introduction of the first seafarers’ identity document. A revision that was prompted by prevailing security considerations and the need to protect passengers, crews and ships from terrorist attacks. The implementation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 185, which requires seafarers’ identity documents to include a biometric identifier, creates a framework for the introduction of the world’s first globally-interoperable biometric verification system. To assess the system’s capabilities, ILO established a Biometrics Testing Campaign. The results this campaign are not only of interest to ILO’s member states, but also to the international biometrics community.