How Gulf Marine is Maximising Growth Opportunities as a Global Leader by Streamlining Contract Workflows with Docusign

With over a decade of experience in the shipping industry, Gulf Marine has accelerated its growth and is now recognised as a global leader in marine lubricant supply. Built on a foundation of unwavering reliability, responsiveness, and sustainability, Gulf Marine places customer satisfaction at the core of its operations – a commitment that has fueled its rapid expansion.

At the heart of meeting these expectations is its people. From legal teams ensuring compliance to procurement teams handling daily operations and vendor communications and HR teams streamlining onboarding and securing a steady flow of talent, every function operates under tight timelines to meet the demands of a fast-growing global business. 

Efficiency is essential for Gulf Marine, which now supplies marine lubricants and services to over 1,000 ports across 80 countries. To sustain its growth trajectory, Gulf Marine identified a critical need: eliminating unnecessary bottlenecks.

Meeting the Growing Demands of a Scaling Business

Handling an ever-growing volume of contracts is a daily challenge for Gulf Marine. Before adopting Docusign, the company relied on a highly labour-intensive and time-consuming process, where legal and procurement teams had to manually input large amounts of data, and monitor progress through a tedious exchange of emails and constant follow-ups. Tracking the progress of contracts was inefficient, often leading to delays, confusion and frustration. 

As Gulf Marine grew into one of the largest players in the global marine lubricants sector, this outdated approach became unsustainable. The skyrocketing volume of contracts demanded a more efficient solution to keep pace with the company’s growth ambitions.

Recognising the need for change, Gulf Marine adopted Docusign’s Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) and eSignature software, transforming their contract processes, delivering greater visibility, faster turnaround times and scalable efficiency. 

Transforming Cumbersome Processes into Seamless Success

With Docusign CLM and eSignature, Gulf Marine transformed its contract workflow, streamlining every step. The process is now seamless: contracts are uploaded to Docusign, reviewed for accuracy, sent for approval and signing, and securely filed –  all within a single system.

CLM’s automated contract routing notifies the relevant individuals when their review or signature is needed, allowing them to complete tasks at their convenience and reducing delays. On the same platform, individuals can quickly, easily, and securely, sign contracts digitally with eSignature, saving both time and paper. Once a task is complete, real-time notifications are sent to the legal and procurement team, ensuring they are always apprised of the contract’s progress. Without the need to constantly follow up or chase for action or approvals, the team is free to focus on higher-value business activities.

With CLM, Gulf Marine now has an established system to manage contracts, from storing contracts with user-specific tags to automatically tracking contract expiries, transforming what was once a manual, labour-intensive process into a streamlined, systematic workflow.

Beyond efficiency, Docusign ensures secure access to contract data, with permissions limited to authorised personnel. The enhanced control has become critical as Gulf Marine scales its operations. 

“The biggest impact we've seen from integrating Docusign is employee satisfaction. The contracting process is no longer painful for the team. Now, the team has complete visibility throughout the process, easily tracking the status of each contract and identifying who still needs to sign or approve. What used to take six weeks—from initiating the contract to signing the final contract—now takes less than a day,” said Joey Chua, Director of Digital and IT Transformation at Gulf Marine. 

Chua also highlighted the ease of adopting Docusign, saying “The system was quick to implement because it was user-friendly and intuitive for users, with no formal training required. Its simplicity made it easy for everyone on the team to get on board.” Customers and vendors were also happy to adapt to this new system, finding Docusign both intuitive and easier to navigate.

The benefits extend beyond time savings. By reducing email exchanges and delays, Gulf Marine has not only enhanced its operational efficiency but also minimised waste, aligning with their sustainability goals. These gains directly impact both the company’s bottom line and its ability to meet customer expectations.

Continuing to Voyage Towards Excellence

Building on its success with staff and customers, Gulf Marine is exploring new ways to further integrate digital solutions across its operations.  Plans are underway to incorporate Docusign into employee onboarding, streamline procurement processes with SAP integration, and enhance customer contract management through Salesforce integration.

As Gulf Marine continues on its voyage of growth, maintaining operational excellence and customer satisfaction remains its top priority. “Digital solutions like Docusign are not just tools—they’re key drivers of our success,” said Chua. “They provide the efficiency we need to scale while showcasing the progress we’ve made as a company.”

With Docusign powering its contract workflows, Gulf Marine is charting a course toward even greater efficiency, innovation, and global impact.