Brands and retailers across the U.S., along with UPS and FedEx, struggled with a surge of e-commerce orders over the holidays, and the logistical strain of shipping millions of packages at once. Despite being well past Christmas, those problems persist. But the root of shipping problems lies well before any actual orders are made. Ports in California where over a million cargo shipments are processed every year have been backed up for months, with no slowdown in imports and a growing backlog of cargo to dig through.