The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently moved the nation’s supply chain closer to a cleaner, fuel-efficient and cost-effective future with the announcement of a project to develop and test a new EPA-patented technology on large equipment used to move goods and products from ships to trucks. These heavy duty diesel machines, called yard hostlers, contribute to air pollution generated in ports throughout the world. EPA’s hydraulic hybrid technology, which is currently being tested in several UPS vehicles, is being readied for use in yard hostlers, the most common work vehicle used at loading docks. The hybrid vehicles will feature a hydraulic hybrid power train that can generate, recover, store and reuse braking power with little air pollution. The hybrid vehicles will use a diesel-hydraulic system that will combine the cleanest available diesel engine technology with components that use hydraulic fluid compression to store energy. The hydraulic hybrid technology is expected to improve the fuel efficiency of the yard tractor by 50 to 60 percent, reduce or eliminate emissions during idling, and decrease brake wear.