A U.S. court has granted provisional protection to four ships of South Korea's Hanjin Shipping which had requested court protection.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey has said that after deliberations it approved the requested protection on four Hanjin vessels stranded at major U.S. ports. The court decision will allow the ships to dock and unload cargo without worrying about creditors seizing the ships. 

Container ship Hanjin Greece, which is currently stranded outside the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles, is expected to dock and unload from around 8 a.m. Saturday local time.

It appears that concerns on possible arrears in port loading and unloading costs should be cleared up before all of Hanjin's container ships can normalize operations.

Some 90 Hanjin vessels on more than 30 trade routes worldwide are believed to be traveling or stranded at sea at the moment.