Athens - A Greek court ruled on Tuesday that a dockworkers strike which has left thousands of containers stranded on cargo ships at the country's largest commercial port, is illegal.

Workers in Piraeus began their strike on November 2 in opposition to the takeover of two container terminals by China's COSCO Pacific.

The protesters fear the government's 35-year contract with the Chinese will lead to job losses and curb lucrative overtime.

But a Piraeus court ruled Tuesday that workers had received ample assurances that no jobs would be lost.

The ruling followed a lawsuit by trade unions after nearly 5,000 containers piled up in the harbour due to the strike.

Businesses said they will experience shortages during the busy Christmas season if the strike continues, saying they expected more than 60,000 containers to arrive at the port by mid-December.

The deal between the Greek government and the Chinese port operating company had been expected to go into effect on October 1, but another strike by dockworkers delayed the company from taking over until the start of November.

The three-week stoppage in October cost Greece an estimated 3 million euros (4.4 million dollars) a day, caused hundreds of containers to pile up, and left hospitals dangerously undersupplied as ships carrying basic medical supplies remained stranded at various ports around the Mediterranean.

Greece and China signed the 4.3-million-euro agreement for the new management of the port at the beginning of the year. The deal is for COSCO to run and upgrade the two piers for up to 35 years.

Piraeus is one of the most important ports in the eastern Mediterranean region. The Chinese company, the world's seventh largest port operator, plans to make Piraeus the hub of its Chinese exports operation for southeast Europe.

With 2.9 billion euros in bilateral trade per year, China is Greece's seventh largest trading partner. (dpa)