Federal Reserve officials meet this week as consumers and companies fret the U.S. economy is facing the most widespread supply crunch since the oil crisis of 1973.

With a near-record 75 container ships waiting outside the U.S.’s largest port complex in southern California, unionized dockworkers have strengthened their indispensable role in the supply chain.

President Biden took several steps to address supply chain problems as he met leaders from major global economies to address recent disruptions.

Amazon warned Wall Street that it will have to spend billions of dollars hiring workers, paying them more and even speeding partly empty trucks to their destinations to ensure that supply chain snarls don’t derail the holiday shopping season.

German delivery firm DHL expects global supply chain bottlenecks to ease next year as the return of air travel adds cargo capacity and higher vaccination rates keep a lid on COVID-19 infections.

The U.S. is suffering longer delivery delays than other economies, according to the latest research by the Institute of International Finance.

A requirement for federal workers and contractors to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 — which would affect a number of transportation companies that work with the U.S. government — won’t exacerbate a backlog of shipping and deliveries, according to the Biden administration.

Shippers around the world are scrambling to keep up with surging freight costs, and the logistics organizations that support them are being challenged in unforeseen ways.