The winds of change are coming — and they’re turning back the clock.

Thousands of fossil fuel-powered ships annually deliver every good imaginable to the Port of Baltimore, but for the first time ever, a large cargo vessel primarily propelled by sails is scheduled to unload here Wednesday.

Built as a proof of concept for sustainable shipping, the 450-foot Neoliner Origin is the world’s largest wind-powered cargo ship. The modern-day galleon embarked this month from France on its inaugural trans-Atlantic voyage loaded with automobiles, bottles of brandy and even a few cruising passengers.

Combating climate change on the seas by reverting to methods of yesteryear has been long-discussed, and some sailing vessels have recently launched. Neoline, the French company behind the Neoliner Origin, formed more than a decade ago with an eye toward the “pragmatic yet ambitious,” said co-founder Jean Zanuttini.

“[We’re] trying to push a vision of what could be the future of maritime shipping in a post-carbon world,” he said recently in a video call from France.

The United Nations’ agency regulating maritime shipping has aimed for the industry to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Efforts, however, stalled this month following pushback and threatened trade retaliation by President Donald Trump.

There are only about 50 wind-powered cargo ships in the world, which is a drop in the ocean of the more than 50,000 carbon-fueled vessels. The Neoliner Origin, which cost at least $70 million to build, will come to Baltimore once a month as part of a four-stop loop including the west coast of France, a French territory near northeast Canada, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Economies of scale make massive cargo carriers a greener form of freighting than airplanes or trucks. But they still emit plenty of carbon, and the ease of globalization — how do you think the shirt you’re wearing got to you? — has increased the demand for ships, which now account for roughly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Enter giant sailboats, an antediluvian antidote to a present-day problem.

Humans have sailed for at least 5,000 years. Sailing vessels later made way for steam ships and, eventually, modern behemoths powered by heavy fuel oil and, in some cases, liquefied natural gas.

The Neoliner Origin is an innovative return to basics. It is primarily powered by sails so tall they dwarf Baltimore’s Phoenix Shot Tower, and it travels slowly to be fuel efficient.

Those sails, which stand 300 feet above water, will be lowered (an hourlong process) to allow the ship to squeeze under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

The vessel has a diesel-electric power system, too, but overall generates 80% fewer emissions than other cargo ships.

It’s still typically cheaper to ship using gas guzzlers, but Neoline’s goal is to be profitable by attracting climate-conscious customers and connecting previously unlinked communities — limiting how far shippers need to pay to truck their goods on land.

Plus, up to 12 paying passengers can cruise on the Neoliner Origin. A 28-day round trip for one person costs about $7,000.

The company is still pitching American businesses on the concept, but French companies such as automobile manufacturer Renault, luxury brand Longchamp and famed cognac maker Hennessy have cut deals with Neoline. Hennessy will ship 4 million bottles of its brandy on the Neoliner Origin over the next year.

Neoline chose Baltimore for the same reason many shippers do: cars.

About half the cargo on the ship will be “ro-ro,” or roll-on/roll-off wheeled cargo, like automobiles. Aside from last year, when the Key Bridge collapse shook up the area, Baltimore has regularly been America’s No. 1 car handler.

The Neoliner Origin’s maiden voyage, though, got off to an inauspicious start.

One of the vessel’s four sails — there are two main ones and two jibs — experienced a breakdown during some bad Atlantic Ocean weather, said Zanuttini, rendering the aft mast ineffective.

That slowed the ship. After postponing an event welcoming the vessel to Baltimore’s Dundalk Marine Terminal, Neoline canceled it altogether. Instead, the ship will be celebrated on its second trip to Baltimore, currently scheduled for Dec. 3.

Passengers aboard the Queen Mary 2 got a look at the vessel last week in the Atlantic Ocean. It will deploy only its forward sails as it approaches Baltimore, but the crew plans to install the repaired sail in-port and depart at full strength.

The delay highlights a practical concern that some have about wind-powered ships: keeping a schedule. In addition to being significantly larger, traditional cargo ships travel faster and on a direct route. Sailing vessels often have to zigzag with the wind.

“It’s definitely a nice concept, but with today’s technology, you’d have to have over 14 Neoliner Origin vessels to make up for a single ro-ro vessel capacity on the North Atlantic,” said John Saldanha, director of the West Virginia University business school’s Global Supply Chain Lab.

That concept, however, could lead to a “tipping point,” said Saldanha, a former merchant mariner.

More sailing ships are being built and Neoline views its inaugural vessel as a “pilot” that will soon be surpassed in size. The company plans to build a sister ship next year and has already sketched out a 560-foot version that could be ready within the next half decade. Eventually, a 720-foot one could be in the cards.

“Then we start to get some scale effect,” Zanuttini said.

The Neoliner Origin is the most ambitious project of its kind, said Sofia Werner, a naval architect at the Research Institutes of Sweden. Researchers continue to search for cost-effective and environmentally friendly ways to feed the global supply chain, including identifying greener fuels.

“It’s not the only solution,” she said of sailing cargo vessels, “but it will be one of many solutions.”