In 1826 Ysaac Brons started his own business in Emden as a merchant. He dealt mainly with grain. Later, coffee, butter and wood were added. A few years later, in 1838, his younger brother Bernhard entered the business. From then on, the brothers traded under "Y. & B. Brons ". They expanded the business to include a shipping company whose sailing ships went to China and brought emigrants to North America. Later, they also did banking business which merged into today's Emder Commerzbank.

 

The grain trade developed steadily. In the city of Emden Y. & B. Brons stored and processed a variety of packhouses. In 1844 as the director and owner of the "Ems steamship company Concordia" Ysaac Brons bought the first steamboat in London, the "Crown Princess Marie". This company merged into the AG "Ems" and still is still operative today and we are proud to say that it employs around 450 people throughout the whole AG Ems Group today.

 

Ysaac Brons was elected in 1848 as a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly. Bernhard Brons represented the interests of shipping by being one of the founders of "Germanischer Lloyd" in 1867 and being on its board of directors; At the beginning of insurance industry against marine hazards ("Emder Insurance Company"), the previous generations of the brothers were already decisively involved. So "Lloyd's of London" Y. & B. Brons transferred the agency for Emden. The close connection with SEECASCO and P. & I. insurers goes back to this time and is continued today by the Brons Marine P. & I. GmbH & Co. KG. The marine insurance broking market for third party tonnage was entered by the foundation of the Dr. Brons Insurance GmbH in November 2019.

 

The beginning of World War II meant a sudden break for Y. & B. Brons. All the packhouses as well as the office and residential building of the family at the "Alter Markt 1" were completely destroyed. During and after the end of the war, business was initially carried out in makeshift barracks near the old headquarters. In 1961, a new building was built in the Nesserlander Straße at the Emder Binnenhafen. Even today, the headquarters of the companies of the Y. & B. Brons Group are located there. In the post-war period various extensions took place at this location. Peanuts, fertilizers and concentrates were cleared at lakeside and inland waterway quays located behind the building and stored there. Cereals and rapeseed from regional agriculture were also picked up here and prepared for export by ship and loaded.

 

In addition to other companies, the Brons Group, through the founding of Brons Terminal GmbH & Co KG in 1998, is also a competent and reliable partner to its partners in the trade and maritime industry in its sixth generation. Today Dr. Claas T. H. Brons is the Groups CEO.