Port Alert

Company

Port of Rotterdam

Time

2022 – 2024

Role

Sole Designer

Monthly users

500+

Product Design

Service Design

Stakeholder Management

Qualitative Research

Summary

Port Alert is an alerting system for truck drivers, transport planners, and port terminals. It helps the right people receive the right information at the right time, reducing waiting times and miscommunication across the port ecosystem.

From Idea to Multi-Sided Product

The Challenge

Drivers, dispatchers, and terminals all operated on different systems and channels. Important updates about delays, gate closures, or planning changes were fragmented, leading to frustration on all sides and inefficient use of scarce capacity in the port.

What I Did

Product design — Helped translate the initial concept into a concrete multi-sided product: a native app for drivers with map functionality, a desktop dashboard for transporters, and an alerting tool for terminals.
User flows — Shaped flows, screen designs, and interaction patterns that work for users who are often on the move or under time pressure.
Embedded in Platform — Aligned with the Designer at the Parent Platform (Portbase) to ensure consistency and easy adoption post pilot-phase.

Working with Assumptions Out in the Open

Riskiest Assumptions

The Challenge

Because the product depended on three different users types collaborating, we needed to be sure we were building the right product for the right users.

What I Did

Introduced method — Introduced the Riskiest-Assumptions method as a working model within the team.
Conducted interviews — Tested assumptions with users and stakeholders through interviews and prototype testing.
Embedded in Way of Working — Presented our assumptions to users and stakeholders through user flows and prototypes.

Stakeholder Management & Alignment

The Challenge

Port Alert involved many internal and external stakeholders, which needed to contribute significantly to the product to make it successful.

What I Did

Presenting Findings — Monthly roadmap and design updates presented to stakeholders together with the product owner and the business analyst.
Convincing skeptics — An important person in the drivers community was skeptical. By listening and proposing his participation in the pilot, I swayed him.