PortConnect 🚢

🚀 Inspiration

Working at sea, I’ve seen firsthand how fragmented and manual port service bookings are: captains juggling phone calls, email chains, and PDFs just to schedule tugboats, fuel bunkering, and tank cleaning. I wanted to centralize all of that into one intuitive dashboard—so terminals, service providers and ship crews can coordinate in real time, reduce delays, and eliminate costly miscommunications.

💡 What it does

• Browse all available port services (tugs, bunkering, cleaning, maintenance).
  
• Book a specific time slot directly in the app with just a few clicks.
  
• Track reservation status in a unified dashboard and receive instant updates.
  
• Manage past bookings and transactions, with built-in audit logs for compliance.

All interactions happen within Bolt.new’s UI, so there’s no need to jump between email, phone, or spreadsheets.

🛠 How we built it

1. Bolt.new for the entire front-end: pages, forms, list views and the “Built on Bolt” badge.
   
2. Supabase for authentication, database tables (users, ports, services, reservations, transactions) and row-level security.
   
3. Netlify for CI/CD and one-click deploy (Deploy Challenge).
   
4. JavaScript SDK to wire up Bolt components to Supabase queries and mutations, all through environment-managed API keys.

⚠️ Challenges we ran into

• Dynamic filters & relations: modeling ports, services and reservations in Supabase so queries stayed performant.
  
• Auth flow: customizing Bolt’s page logic to show/hide content based on logged-in user’s role (terminal vs. provider).
  
• Env variable syncing between Bolt.new and Netlify, to keep keys secure yet accessible.
  
• Time-zone handling: ensuring reservation slots display correctly across local port time zones.

🏆 Accomplishments that we’re proud of

• Delivered a fully functional MVP in under two weeks—complete with real-time booking and status updates.
  
• Implemented row-level security so each user only sees their own reservations.
  
• Achieved a clean, responsive UI entirely in Bolt.no-code, with zero custom CSS.

📚 What we learned

• How to leverage Bolt.new’s data hooks for complex CRUD flows.
  
• Best practices for Supabase RLS to lock down data by user role.
  
• The power of low-code + backend as a service to iterate rapidly on B2B workflows.
  
• Tricks for managing secrets across multiple deployment targets.

🔮 What’s next for PortConnect

1. Payments & invoicing: integrate Stripe to collect transaction fees.
   
2. Compliance module: add document upload and approval workflows for ANVISA and Port Authority checks.
   
3. Multi-port support: allow a single provider account to serve multiple terminals.
   
4. Conversational AI: embed a voice or video assistant (ElevenLabs or Tavus) to guide users through bookings.
   
5. Mobile SDK: launch a native companion app for on-the-go notifications.

Built With

• bolt