Nea Kavala, Sept. 4 -- A ship carrying more than 780 asylum-seekers who had been in a camp on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos arrived in Greece's northern mainland port of Thessaloniki Tuesday morning, as part of government efforts to ease severe overcrowding and tackle a recent increase in new arrivals on the islands.

The ship docked in Thessaloniki a day after the arrival of another ship with more than 630 people, mostly Afghan families, who had also been staying in Lesbos' Moria camp.

Slightly more than half of the new arrivals are being taken to a temporary camp in Nea Kavala, in northern Greece, from where authorities said they will be moved next month to a camp currently under construction. The rest will head to other faciliti...