Island voices have joined the annual chorus of Falmouth residents who say the Steamship Authority’s seasonal 5:30 a.m. freight departure for Vineyard Haven causes unacceptable levels of early-morning noise from trucks.

Steamship Authority officials have maintained for years that the early morning summer ferry is crucial to preventing traffic backups on the Vineyard later in the day, because it brings food deliveries and other shipments on trucks that must make numerous stops at businesses without off-street parking areas.

Some Islanders, however, have begun taking Falmouth’s side, saying the Steamship Authority betrayed Woods Hole villagers after it added the early boat 15 years ago.

“The 5:30 a.m. freight was begun as an experiment. In 2011, Vineyard [board member] Marc Hanover said it would be discontinued if the early trucks disturbed Falmouth residents,” Islander Amy Cody said at Tuesday’s meeting of the port council, which advises the Steamship Authority board.

That promise has been broken year after year, she said, despite the perennial petitions and public hearings in which scores of Falmouth residents have testified to the pervasive early-morning noise and disruption of heavy trucks on Woods Hole Road.

“We can’t ignore the needs and the desires of our sister port residents who … get no benefit from more trucks rumbling through their streets and idling on the side of the road starting at 4:30 in the morning,” said Ms. Cody, a member of the grassroots Steamship Authority Citizens Action Group.

Island grocer Steve Bernier of Cronig’s Markets also spoke Tuesday, suggesting that the port council and board consider suspending the 5:30 a.m. ferry for a year before deciding whether to restore it in 2028.

“If we’re all given time to adjust, I think we can make it happen and take care of our neighbors,” he said.

Cronig’s does not receive deliveries via the 5:30 a.m. ferry, said Mr. Bernier, who told the port council that Stop & Shop also receives its product deliveries via later ferries.

Vineyard resident and citizens action group member Margaret Hannemann applauded Mr. Bernier’s suggestion.

“There are so many people who really care about the Falmouth folks,” she said.

“If any of us lived on that road and had these big trucks and millions of cars coming by, we wouldn’t be happy,” Ms. Hannemann said.

Steamship Authority general manager Alex Kryska will be finding out for himself when the 2026 summer schedule starts later this month: He’s just rented a home directly on Woods Hole Road.

“I live right on that main thoroughfare, so I will be seeing it firsthand every day,” Mr. Kryska said.

Although the Steamship Authority prohibits trucks from arriving before 5:10 a.m. for the 5:30 ferry, or 6 a.m. for the 6:30 boat, drivers from some 60 companies did exactly that last year — about 2,000 times, he said.

“On average, they were about eight or nine minutes early,” Mr. Kryska said.

The Steamship Authority now is contacting all of the offending shippers to make sure they know that future bookings may be cancelled if truckers continue to arrive early, he said.

“We do reserve the right to pull future reservations as a consequence of violating that policy [and] we will be tracking those guys again this year,” Mr. Kryska said.

The 5:30 a.m. ferry from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole also appears in next summer’s draft schedule, although Mr. Kryska said he is studying its use to make sure the trip is needed.

Island truckers have told him the early departure allows them to make two round-trips in a day if needed, Mr. Kryska said, and there’s also a concern that lacking the 5:30 a.m. trip, trucks will take up space on later boats that may be needed by Islanders traveling for medical appointments.

“It’s anecdotal, [but] we’re trying to get more hard data on it,” he said.

The Steamship Authority board will review the draft 2027 schedule at its May 19 meeting in Falmouth.

Also Tuesday, the port council agreed to recommend that the board place M/V Governor on the market this fall.

The vintage freighter can be a second backup ferry during the high season, Mr. Kryska said, and Steamship Authority staff will have the summer to prepare materials needed to advertise the boat.

Among other business Tuesday, Mr. Kryska announced that the Steamship Authority terminal in Oak Bluffs will open for the season May 14, with a modest celebration upon the arrival of the 9:30 a.m. ferry from Woods Hole.