Lubrication in cyberspace

The launch of internet services means that Castrol’s marine customers can call up technical and market information from anywhere in the world.

Castrol Marine has utilised the internet to upgrade its customer services with the launch of its dedicated website, www.castrolmarine.com. The site provides a raft of on-line services including a Home Page, its Marine Lubrication Information Network (Marlin) and Fluid Management System.

Visitors to the site can access a range of technical information and search Castrol’s world-wide ports directory to find services it provides at each port, contact details, minimum delivery quantities, and lead-times. E-mails can also be send directly to any Castrol office via the system. Also accessible is the technical services and support area of the site which carries lubricant-related information and conversion tables.

While all website visitors can access material of a general nature, shipowners may be interested in the dedicated services available to Castrol’s customers in the form of Marlin and Fluid Management System. Marlin is an Internet-based on-line interactive service which does not require dedicated software. It holds all oil purchase records and used oil analysis reports, and users can also call up lubricant consumption and spend by vessel. All the information is accessible to the customer via the Internet and to ensure security it is protected by the use of a password and coded protocol.

New and past oil analysis reports are displayed in the form of a block chart with normal results in green, warnings in amber and danger in red. Clicking on the relevant box will open the report which, in the case of warnings and danger, will include a recommended course of action to rectify out of specification readings. When a new oil sample is analysed the report will be placed on the server, and an email sent to the customer to prompt them to log on to the system and view the report.