As the largest port in Europe, the Port of Rotterdam (HbR) handles enormous volumes of shipping traffic, goods, and data every day. This must be done safely, reliably, and efficiently—24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
To make this possible, HbR relies on the Harbour Master Management Information System, a system essential for managing maritime traffic. For the development, quality assurance, and further enhancement of this system, HbR enlisted the expertise of the professionals from Test Automation Group (TAG), part of Sofius.
The challenge
The Harbour Master Management Information System consists of a landscape of backend services in a microservices architecture and multiple frontend applications. HbR faced a major upgrade: a new web-based frontend that needed to be more reliable, user-friendly, and future-proof.
The key question was: “How do we ensure this new frontend meets all requirements and provides fast, reproducible, and continuous insight into quality?”
The existing testing tools were no longer sufficient. Maintenance was becoming increasingly time-consuming, tests were less stable, and new functionalities were delivered later as a result. This posed a risk for a system that literally must never go offline.
TAG as an extension of the HbR team
What started in 2017 with a single Test Automation engineer grew into a close collaboration with multiple TAG professionals across different DevOps teams. They helped HbR not only with a solid strategy but also with its practical implementation and optimization.
“TAG never felt like an external supplier, but as part of the team. They contributed ideas, took initiative, and brought calm and structure to a complex project.”
The consultants worked closely with developers, architects, and operations staff. They brought technical expertise but, above all, the drive to continuously improve—a crucial factor in a critical environment like the Port of Rotterdam.
Testing approach: from TestCafé to Playwright and Storybook
One of the most important steps was selecting a future-proof test automation framework. The existing tools were too labor-intensive and offered insufficient flexibility. TAG conducted a thorough comparison of three options: TestCafé, Cypress, and Playwright.
A proof of concept determined the choice: Playwright was the ideal match, offering TypeScript support, stability, fast test execution, and excellent capabilities for request mocking and visual regression testing.
In addition, Storybook was introduced as a component library. Many UI components could now be tested individually, significantly reducing the number of end-to-end tests and further speeding up the development process.
The results
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Easier maintenance
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Faster insights into feature quality
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Fewer flaky tests
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More predictable deliveries
Exactly what the Harbour Master Management Information System needed.
With the adoption of Playwright, the implementation of component-driven development with Storybook, and close collaboration within the DevOps teams, HbR now has an agile, stable, and future-proof testing approach. The quality of the new frontend is continuously visible, allowing features to reach production faster and with greater confidence.
The collaboration between HbR and TAG is now firmly established: in 2020, TAG even became the preferred supplier for automated testing.
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