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The top Democrats on the House transportation panel highlighted workplace safety concerns across freight rail operations shortly after the Biden administration awarded the industry grants to alleviate supply chain woes.

CHICAGO — Trucking and logistics leaders said their companies’ investments in technology and more flexible service offerings have paid dividends during the supply chain turbulence of the past few years.

Major railroads, including Union Pacific Corp. and BNSF Railway Co., and their unions remain at an impasse after a government board ended efforts to mediate a settlement, a move that will likely force President Joe Biden’s administration to intervene and prevent a strike that could cripple an already-strained U.S. supply chain.

President Joe Biden on June 16 signed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, a legislative package designed to bolster the domestic shipping industry, and which drew praise from transportation and business leaders.

Employers and the union representing more than 22,000 dockworkers at 30 U.S. ports on the West Coast are unlikely to reach a wage deal by the time the current contract expires next month, but neither side foresees disruptions that would hobble supply chains.

Companies in the transport sector, and automakers in particular, are among the most-visible pioneers of the inevitable shift to cleaner fuel. Electric cars are becoming a household concept, regardless of their prohibitive cost. That’s where large fleet operators come in.

Negotiators with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association are discussing a plan to allow all West Coast marine terminals to open an hour earlier, at 6 a.m., under what’s called “a double flex.”

President Joe Biden’s administration is trying to avert another inflation-spawning logjam at the nation’s busiest seaport, just as the economy is starting to recover from the last one.