The Steamship Authority’s 5:30 a.m. summer freight boats are once again the target of unhappy Falmouth residents who say the terminal-bound truck traffic destroys their early-morning tranquility.

The boat line board of governors voted last week to postpone the launch a second time, to September, after agreeing earlier this year to move it from March to May.

Soaring costs for steel, a surge in demand at shipyards, a shortage of skilled labor and the Steamship Authority’s own limitations all played their parts in the boat line’s failure to accurately estimate the cost of converting its new oil field vessels for use as freight ferries.

The ferry line announced Wednesday that it was changing the rules for the “blue line” standby on the Vineyard route, moving from a hard cap of 15 vehicles a day to a new rolling 12-vehicle cap.

At an August 16, 2022 meeting, the Steamship Authority’s five members by unanimous vote authorized general manager/chief executive officer Robert Davis to make an expenditure of $11,275,000 for the purchase of two used oilfield support ships.