The daily business briefing: March 30, 2021

Shipping resumes in the Suez Canal, Amazon union vote count begins in Alabama, and more

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(Image credit: Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Shipping resumes in Suez Canal after grounded ship refloated

Shipping traffic resumed in Egypt's Suez Canal on Monday after tugboats managed to refloat the massive container ship Ever Given, which had wedged across the waterway, blocking it for nearly a week. The successful refloating triggered relief as the threat of a prolonged shipping slowdown eased. "We pulled it off!" Boskalis, a salvage company that participated in the operation, said in a statement. Suez Canal Authority chair Osama Rabie said it probably would take more than three days to clear a backlog of 422 ships waiting to pass through the canal, with 113 ships expected to pass in both directions by early Tuesday. "We'll work day and night to end the backlog," Rabie said. Evergreen Line, which leases the 430-foot Ever Given, said the ship would be inspected for seaworthiness in Great Bitter Lake, a holding basin in the middle of the canal.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.