SMS International Shore Operations, part of the SMS Group, has won a three-year contract to handle the passengers for Carnival Cruises in Miami.

The cruise company decided to outsource all passenger services from their arrival to their disembarkation.

The contract is another feather in the cap of this company, which now handles 80 per cent of all the cruise ships in Miami, handling vessels for Disney, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), MSC and Prestige.

As a result of the additional activity resulting from this contract, it now employs over 1,000 people, managing director Sam Mifsud said.

The SMS Group already had over a decade of experience handling cruise calls when it was appointed the agent for NCL in the UK. Eventually it also handled its operations in Rome, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Copenhagen. SMS International Shore Operations was then set up in Feburary 2012 to handle NCL’s operations in Florida – approximately 1.4 million passengers every year.

Mr Mifsud said that the operation was now huge, handling around 800 vessels a year – half of which will be Carnival’s.

“There are days when we handle six vessels in a day. In January – the busiest season – we handle around 22 calls a week,” he said.

The SMS Group handles all the back office work for the subsidiary from its headquarters in St Julian’s.

All the scheduling – down to the booking of buses – is done remotely using an IT programme called Mizzisoft System, developed by Gozitan John Michael Mizzi.