Modesto Piñeiro Consignaciones y Agencias, S.L. is a family-owned maritime services company specialized in quality and personalized attention to our clients, currently managed by the sixth generation.

We mainly operate in the port of Santander.

Since its foundation in 1866, our activity has been based on values such as respect, trust, ethics, and fair gain, allowing us to maintain long-lasting business relationships.

Currently, many things have changed in the business world. Today, we are a modern, digitized company adapted to the times, without losing the essence of the traditional Ship's Agent, for whom the client continues to be at the center of our day-to-day operations.

The history of our company is the story of a family tradition perpetuated through six generations.

It is obligatory, as well as a satisfaction, to record in this section the due recognition to all the people who, over more than 130 years, have been carrying out their duties at Modesto Piñeiro Consignaciones y Agencias. Individuals remembered for their years of dedication, often without time limitations, practitioners of commendable loyalty. We are all inexorably dragged by the course of time, but the company endures, in whose perpetuity the anonymous efforts of successive and diligent executives and employees are condensed, preserved, and ennobled.

Piñeiro is a Galician surname, specifically from the vicinity of Betanzos in the province of A Coruña. Extended throughout the Peninsula with the Reconquest, it founded houses in Castilla and Asturias, of which a branch came to settle in the city of Santander. It is in the second half of the 19th century when our history begins, a family history of successive generations of men who have carried the name of Modesto Piñeiro and who have maintained the profile open to the outside that characterized those 19th-century business entrepreneurs.

The founder of the dynasty was Modesto Piñeiro Perez (1839-1896), who, after completing his basic studies in public school, began working at the age of fourteen in a Ship Brokerage and shortly after in a trade and banking house. Around that time, he began learning the French language, stealing hours from sleep, as working days occupied the entire day. Within a year, he could speak and write correctly in French, so he demanded a salary increase from the head of the house, given the benefits he brought to the business. His boss refused the raise, so he left that office to venture on his own, dedicating himself with a capital of 2,000 reales to become a maritime agent, creating his namesake Consignee in 1866.

He set out, as he had done with French, to learn English, and he succeeded. This allowed him to acquire a notable clientele in Great Britain, providing him with the means to live comfortably and educate his eleven children. He served as a councilor in the Santander City Council in the biennium 1870-1872 and deputy mayor from 1873-1875. In 1876, he was invested with the title of Ship Interpreter Broker of the Port of Santander. He was also vice-consul of the United States and Peru in Santander. Among the numerous commercial representations he held, we can mention the firm William Bairds of Glasgow, the Setares Mining Company, and the Spanish Iron Ore Company of San Salvador, exporters of iron ore. Their shipments, mainly on English and Scandinavian ships, were consigned by his firm, destined for the United Kingdom. After his death in 1896, his eldest son, Modesto Piñeiro Bezanilla, succeeded him in the business.

This new Modesto Piñeiro Bezanilla (1864-1933) took over the reins of the company in the late 19th century, extending its activity until the difficult 1930s, consolidating the consignee activity mainly in the traffic of minerals from the then province of Santander, destined primarily to ports in Wales and Scotland. He inaugurated the tradition of maintaining the name through the eldest son, a tradition that has lasted to this day. Modesto Piñeiro Bezanilla studied English in Scotland during the intensification of relations with the United Kingdom. The representation of new companies with mainly British and Dutch capital, such as Bairds Mining, Minas de Camargo, Sociedad Minera Cabarga San Miguel, and Wm H.Muller, gave impetus to the Consignee. Simultaneously, he directed a series of shipping companies registered in Santander. In those years, one of these ships was declared a total loss in the port of Vladivostok. Not convinced, Modesto Piñeiro Bezanilla was accompanied by a Lloyd's of London surveyor (whose representation the company still holds as sub-agents) and set out using the Trans-Siberian Railway, taking twenty-seven days to arrive, only to find that the ship was afloat. After not-so-easy negotiations with local authorities, he returned to Santander on the ship two months later.

He was president of the Board of Works of the Port of Santander from 1920 to 1932, initiating the start of modern works that replaced the wooden docks with concrete ones. Among the projects executed during that time, the Mansion of the Passenger's Landing, the current symbol of the Port of Santander as an institution, stands out. Especially linked with the United Kingdom, his deep knowledge of the English language allowed him to coordinate the beginnings of what would become Standard Eléctrica, contributed to the visit of Mr. H.S.Colt, who designed the route of the Pedreña Golf Course, supporting its launch. He was present at the founding of the Consortium for the Free Deposit of the Port of Santander, at Mutua Montañesa, and at the Official Mining Chamber. He participated even more actively in the creation of Aguas y Remolques, S.A., which, with the ships Guillermina, Laureguizar, Triton, and Tritonazo, provided towing services in the port. He was Consul of Peru and passed away in 1933, with his son Modesto Piñeiro Riquelme taking over the Consignee.

Modesto Piñeiro Riquelme (1900-1992) was the commercial director of the Santander-Mediterráneo railway when his father passed away. As the only male heir with no background in the maritime business, he had to take over the reins of the business. He had studied in Scotland due to family tradition, where he was surprised by World War I in 1914. The conflict prevented him from returning until 1918, always commenting that he came back speaking much better English than Spanish. His beginnings were tough, as port activity declined, maritime traffic went through difficult times with the Spanish Civil War and later World War II. Leveraging the relationships built by his predecessors and others acquired during his school days in Scotland, he gradually restored activity to the business immediately after the war in 1945. Successive trips around Europe bore fruit with the importation through various Spanish ports of shipments of coal and briquettes for Renfe and Sugar Mills of British, German, and Belgian origin, as well as petroleum coke for local and national steelworks. New traffics emerged, such as the one from the Dutch shipping company KNSM from Rotterdam and Amsterdam with destinations to Central and South America or that of Wilhemsen, which called in Santander with rubber from the Far East for the Torrelavega factory.

He was, following tradition, Consul of Peru, of the Netherlands and Dean of the Consular Corps and member of the directives of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation and collaborated with the Real Club Maritimo de Santander in the organization of international regattas. He died in 1992, his son Modesto Piñeiro Ceballos (1925-2006) succeeded him as head of the agency.

Modesto Piñeiro Ceballos (1925-2006) also learned English in Scotland, as was already a tradition in the family. After completing his studies as a Commercial Teacher at the Santander School of Commerce, he immediately joined the Consignee's work under his father's tutelage, passing through various departments from the bottom up. These were difficult years coinciding with the post-Spanish and European war period. Obsessive about doing good work, he found time to combine this work, first with the Presidency of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Navigation of Santander, then with the Consortium for the Free Deposit, and next with the Provincial Council and the College of Commercial Agents, leaving behind a trail of accessibility and intense activity. He still had time to take on the consular representation of Greece, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, and to be a procurator in the Spanish Courts and a congressman in the first democratic legislature.

After that intense political phase, he fully reintegrated into the family business in the late seventies since his father was already advanced in age. In 1978, he achieved what would be one of his greatest professional aspirations, obtaining a maritime line for Santander that transported tourists and foreign cars. On April 18 of that year, the connection between Santander and the British port of Plymouth was inaugurated with the ferry Armorique of the Brittany Ferries company. Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age, coinciding with the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Consignee, he handed over the reins to the fifth generation in his son, passing away in 2006.

Currently, the fifth generation is represented by Modesto Piñeiro Garcia-Lago (1953-). He studied business in Santander and England, preparing, by tradition and professional necessity, in the English language. He joined the company in 1978, starting like previous generations in the most basic agency jobs. Under his management, the great technological revolution of the late 20th century took place, with the disappearance of books and manual notes, the imposition of new communication techniques, and the company being one of the pioneers in adapting. Likewise, he promoted the certification of consignee activity in ISO 9000 quality systems, obtaining one of the first ISO 9000 certifications awarded in Spain in 1998. He has been president and vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Cantabria and Spain, respectively, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Port of Santander, actively participating in various economic forums in the Cantabria community.

Once again, the generational relay is already prepared with the incorporation in 2004 of the sixth generation represented by Modesto y Antonio Piñeiro Diego. Following tradition, they studied business in Madrid and the United Kingdom, and they have also completed different training in areas such as handling dangerous goods, safety in the workplace, etc. Committed to growth and to drive and optimize operations in the company, they have developed a more complete digitalization of processes, resulting in greater agility and relationship with customers. Given their youth and accumulated experience, the company's future is assured for many years.

Quality politics

The management of MODESTO PIÑEIRO CyA states that its commitments to Quality Management can be summarized as follows:

• Identifying the needs of its clients.
• Achieving customer satisfaction with ship consignment services by meeting established requirements.
• Continuously improving the effectiveness of its Quality Management System.

To achieve this, the company has developed and implemented a Quality Management System based on the UNE-EN-ISO 9001:2015 standard. This system is tailored to the company's purposes and regularly verified to ensure its effectiveness.

As a result of this Quality Policy and any established Quality requirements, the company sets Quality Objectives that are continuously reviewed to monitor their progress and degree of fulfillment.

The management of MODESTO PIÑEIRO CyA will ensure that this Quality Policy is understood and accepted by all personnel and periodically reviewed for ongoing suitability.