Captain John W. Tatem founded the first shipping agency in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. The company J.W. Tatem & Co. stevedoring and agency services. The company saw substantial growth during an after World War I, due to a boom in the Dominican sugar industry. The heavy demand for Dominican sugar substantially increased the Stevedoring and vessel agency business for our company

J.W. Tatem & Co. became the most successful shipping company on the country’s south coast. The Tatem House was pioneer in the maritime field for business diversification, marking the beginning of what’s remained the company’s philosophy for more than 100 years.

Victor Rannik and Reet Kunari, originally from Estonia, arrived in the Dominican Republic escaping their native country. Although they had the intention of settling in the United States, they established themselves on the island.

On October 16th, Mr. Jaak Ero Rannik Kunari was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic, becoming to the 7th generation of the family’s maritime tradition.

Commercial activity decreases in San Pedro de Macorís as a result of the Dictator Rafael L. Trujillo’s incursion into the sugar and exportation businesses.  J. W. Tatem moved its headquarters to Mercedes Street in the national capital, then called Ciudad Trujillo. Víctor Rannik begins his work for the company as Operations Manager and Ramón Báez Romano as the Commercial Manager. The company gained more commercial success and growth.

The Company obtained commercial representation of the French line Compagnie Générale Maritime, later merging with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes (current CMA CGM).

The company moved its headquarters to El Conde Street #15. Represented passenger ships on transatlantic voyages. Faced with the economic recession of the last years because of the Trujillo dictatorship, John W. Tatem decided to sell the company to Víctor Rannik and Ramón Báez Romano. The same year, Juan Periche Vidal a well-known person in the maritime field joined the company as Head of Maritime Operations.

The company rebrands as Báez & Rannik, surnames of its two new majority partners, Messrs. Ramón Báez Romano, and Víctor Rannik. In the following years, the company expanded its services and experienced great commercial growth.

As a result of the war clashes happening at the time because of the Dominican Civil War, also known as the April Revolution, the company Báez & Rannik operates temporarily in Mr. Víctor Rannik’s apartment.

The company Consignaciones Marítimas, currently known today as Autoridad Porturiaria Dominicana (Dominican Port Authority) was created to separate the work of loading, unloading, and handling of merchandise from the services of the steamship agency. In the same period, new companies emerged and specialized in different maritime business processes with the aim of offering diversity and excellency to their clients.

The increasing boom for transporting containers demanded a rapid adaptation of the Dominican ports for receiving even larger vessels. Messrs. Báez & Rannik contributed as spokespeople for the industry to obtain the necessary investments for the Port of Haina and its development. 

Company Báez & Rannik installed its headquarters on the 7th floor of La Cumbre building in the Ensanche Naco sector, Dominican Republic.

After the death of Víctor Rannik, his sons Messrs. Jaak E. Rannik and Juhan Rannik took over the company. Báez & Rannik signed a contract to manage the tankers that bring oil to the refinery, and also for the installation of buoy and pipeline to unload the crude oil on the high seas, 2 km away from the coast of Palenque.

Báez & Rannik became the first shipping company in the country to offer regular services to the Port of Haina. Likewise, promoting the foundation of Remolcadores Dominicanos, currently known as Svitzer Dominicana.

The company Báez & Rannik moved its headquarters to the 2nd floor at the Naco Shopping Center, on Tiradentes Avenue, in the Ensanche Naco sector, Dominican Republic.

After the passage of Cyclone David, the first vessel that manages to enter the Port of Haina is the St. Thomas barge, consigned to Báez & Rannik. It arrived from Puerto Rico as the first international maritime aid that contributed to the country’s recovery.

The largest ship to have a vessel call to our island, the gigantic Pengal tanker, with a capacity of 90,000 tons, the ship was attended by Báez & Rannik.  Báez & Rannik participated actively in the creation of the Pension and Retirement Fund for port workers.

Brothers Jaak E. Rannik and Juhan Rannik bought Ramón Báez’s shares of the company. Further into the year, the company changed its name to Agencias Navieras B&R.

Agencias Navieras B&R established its headquartes in Torre Panamericana on Abraham Lincoln Avenue no. 504, in the Piantini sector, Dominican Republic. The same year the company also opened a second office in Puerto Plata to increase maritime activity in the northern part of the country.

Agencias Navieras B&R established another office in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

B&R Group was created, a group of companies dedicated to nautical services and other commercial maritime transport activities; thirteen companies made up this group, Agencias Navieras B&R being the most important.

Around this year the company built other offices in the Port of Haina, using containers. It developed to be a truck service workshop afterwards.

Jeffrey T. Rannik, first son of Jaak E. Rannik, began his work at Agencias Navieras B&R after holding various positions in the company, in 2010 he assumed the presidency of the B&R Group. The same year Agencias Navieras B&R demanded on behalf of the sector that shipping companies be responsible for the maintenance and dredging of the Dominican ports, thus the firm Dragados del Caribe was born.

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, Agencias Navieras B&R launched the slogan “First in Dominican Maritime Trade” and developed an extensive program of activities, including the National Marine Congress, with the aim of highlighting the importance of the field in the Dominican economy, as well as the obligation to preserve its ecological balance.

Jaak B. Rannik, after several years working hard in different areas of the company, second son of Jaak E. Rannik, is named Executive Vice President of the B&R Group.

Agencias Navieras B&R served as promoter and participated in the development of the Caucedo Multimodal Port as part of the founding group. On December 6th, the Caucedo Multimodal Port begins its operations with the CMA CGM Colombie ship, brokered by Agencias Navieras B&R. With this achievement, the wise vision of Jaak E. Rannik has been recorded in the history of commerce in the Dominican Republic.

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, Agencias Navieras B&R published a literary work “Océanos de Tinta y Papel”, which tells the history of Dominican navigation and maritime development. It was written by Miguel Reyes Sánchez, and it won the 2012 National Book Fair Award Eduardo León Jimenes. The book also circulates in Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Panama and China. In addition, the virtual library of the Shipowners Association of the Dominican Republic was created with the contributions made by Agencias Navieras B&R on maritime issues. This library was named after Juan Periche Vidal, honoring him for his expertise in the field and who collected a large amount of said documentary material.

Agencias Navieras B&R built a Terminal in the Port of Haina for containers, from where rental and repair work on chassis and containers is currently carried out.

Agencias Navieras B&R was a sponsor for the Second Edition of the “Derrotero de la Isla de Santo Domingo”, published in 2015. A document that serves as a nautical guide, contains instructions, data, and information of interest to sailors who visit the coasts of the island of Santo Domingo.

The tourist port with the highest investment in the country was inaugurated: Amber Cove, located in Maimón Bay in Puerto Plata. B&R Group participated in this project as a founding partner company. On October 12th, 2015, Amber Cove received its first cruise vessel.

IS Services was created, a logistics operations and storage company that complements the wide range of services of the B&R Group, located within the Caucedo Multimodal Port, operating as a Free Trade Zone. It offers storage, inventory management, logistics and warehousing, distribution, and transportation of merchandise.

The Dominican Association of Exporters (ADOEXPO) awarded the B&R Group the Award of Excellence for Exporter Service, an award that recognizes and encourages the improvement and growth of exporters in terms of quality, innovation, search for new markets and social commitment.

Agencias Navieras B&R reaches its 100 years of history and services. The celebration included multiple meetings with clients, held from February to September and the main event being an important conference by Don Tapscott.  At the event, the new name of the company was announced, Rannik Agencias Navieras.

Rannik inaugurates the first -22 degrees Celsius frozen warehouse at the Caucedo Logistics Center, in Caucedo Multimodal Port. The event was led by the executives of the company, Mr. Jeffrey Rannik and Mr. Jaak Rannik. In addition, it was attended by the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, Mrs. Raquel Peña, as well as other representatives.

During an event chaired by the President of the Dominican Republic, Sir Luis Abinader Corona, an air cargo warehouse was inaugurated, created under an alliance with the multinational company United Parcel Service (UPS), located at Las Americas International Airport.