Elvira Alves Barry (asker) Nov 5, 2010:

Oops, that's "bunker", not "banker"!

Elvira Alves Barry (asker) Nov 5, 2010:

And here I thought a banker was a type of cave... Thanks to all for your help. Andrew that's a good point about "banca" possibly being a corruption of bunker; I certainly did not recognize it in this context.

Andrew Hunt Nov 4, 2010:

Elvira, they are definitely talking about `bunkers`(nautical term for fuel, it comes from the old steam boat days when boilers were fired by coal, hence the coal was kep in what is called bunkers,ie coal bunkers, and the name for marine liquid fuel today still is called bunkers).
Although I see Marlene has dug out an interesting site on bancas, i have never come across this word in portuguese (they usually refer to it as `combustível`), I still think this word is not a normal portuguese word (in this context) but a corruption of the english word `bunkers`. Interested if anyone has further comment?

Elvira Alves Barry (asker) Nov 4, 2010:

This is a contract for a vessel delivering fuel. Besides the text above (under the heading "Bancas à entrega e reentrega"), there is also the text: "Consumo médio de bancas, à velocidade de 11 nós, não poderá exceder 800 litros/hora". So a bench wouldn't have an average consumption of anything.