A total of 15,000 pilgrims have arrived through Jeddah Islamic Port for this year’s Haj, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The final contingent arrived on Sunday at the port, the leading and busiest harbor on the Red Sea.

Capt. Saher Tahlawi, director general of the port, said most of the pilgrims came from Egypt and Sudanese territory. They started arriving on Sep. 9. Twenty vessels carried passengers, mainly from Sudan, he said.

The port has state-of-the-art technology to facilitate the arrival and departure of pilgrims. Six buses were used to ferry arriving passengers from the docking area to immigration counters. Twenty vehicles were used to transport people with special needs, he said.

Three ambulances and nine firefighting trucks have been stationed at the port to deal with emergencies, he said. It has deployed 238 employees to assist pilgrims, he said.

The Ministry of Health has deployed 100 staff members to examine pilgrims coming through the port. It recently stated that no one with infectious diseases had been found coming from Africa. The coast guard has also deployed patrols and rescue teams to ensure the safety of pilgrims at the port.

The port was once the major entry point for pilgrims from all over the world. It is now the third-largest after Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport and Prince Moh ammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah.

It handles more than 60 percent of total imports arriving by sea in the Kingdom.

Suakin on the Sudanese coast is one of the main ports for Haj pilgrims traveling to the Kingdom.

It was formerly the region’s premier port, but is now smaller than Port Sudan, which is the main link for passengers heading to Jeddah.