The first ship to run on ammonia still has not sailed
A ship promised to become the first ammonia powered ship anywhere in regular service is still not running on ammonia, and 2 separate projects meant to get it there split apart years ago. Viking Energy, a 95 meter offshore supply vessel Eidesvik Offshore has operated since 2003, is partway through a retrofit that swaps its engine for one that burns ammonia, a fuel made from nitrogen and hydrogen that releases no carbon dioxide when it burns, alongside marine gas oil, the standard diesel like fuel ships normally burn. Eidesvik and the engine maker Wartsila announced the plan in October 2021 and originally expected it finished by late 2023. The most recent target, stated by Wartsila and Equinor in February 2026, is autumn 2026, for finishing the physical engine work alone. Testing and commissioning still follow before the ship actually sails on ammonia.
The timeline has slipped nearly 3 years, not the 2 once assumed
Eidesvik and Wartsila first set the completion date for late 2023 in their October 2021 announcement. By August 2024, Eidesvik had pushed the target to the first half of 2026. The most recent statement, from February 2026, sets the target at autumn 2026. Measured from the original October 2021 announcement to each stated deadline, the gap between the first promised date and the current one runs to nearly 3 years, an approximation MAOWCE calculated from the stated dates, not a figure either company states outright.
These are MAOWCE own approximation of when each stated target falls relative to the original October 2021 announcement, not exact figures any 1 source states. The late 2023 target comes from source 1, the first half of 2026 target from source 3, and the current autumn 2026 target from source 5.
Show the numbers
| First promised, late 2023 | 2 |
| Revised 2024, first half 2026 | 4.5 |
| Current target, autumn 2026 | 5 |
This conversion is made possible by the support and investment from Equinor.
Gitte Gard Talmo, chief executive of Eidesvik Offshore. Source 3.
A separate fuel cell project on the same ship stayed suspended
A second, separate effort aimed to fit Viking Energy with an ammonia powered fuel cell instead of a combustion engine, run through ShipFC, an EU funded consortium, a group of organizations working on the project together. A fuel cell makes electricity directly from a fuel through a chemical reaction rather than burning it. ShipFC states its own project is complementary to the engine conversion, not the same effort. The largest tested ammonia fuel cell module for this project reached only 100 kilowatts at a test center in Stord, Norway, far short of the 2,000 kilowatts the full ship needs. In February 2025, ShipFC announced it was suspending the project, citing an immature supply chain for large ammonia fuel cell parts, cost increases from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and the collapse of consortium member Alma Clean Power, which stopped operating after it failed to raise money. ShipFC states the timeline for resuming work is uncertain.
These 2 bars describe the separate, suspended ammonia fuel cell project, not the engine conversion the rest of this article is about. The largest tested module reached only 5% of the scale the ship needs before the project was suspended in February 2025.
Show the numbers
| Largest fuel cell tested so far | 100 |
| Scale the ship needs | 2000 |
Ammonia fuel technology is ready, and we are excited to bring that capability onboard Viking Energy.
Stefan Nysjo, vice president of power supply at Wartsila Marine. Source 5.
Equinor funding and a 70% emissions cut back the engine bet
The engine conversion is funded in part by a new 5 year charter contract, an agreement paying to use the ship for a set period, that Equinor signed with Eidesvik, running through 2030. Eidesvik claims the retrofit will cut greenhouse gas emissions from Viking Energy, the gases that trap heat and warm the planet, by 70% or more once the ship runs on ammonia as its main fuel. Equinor, the charterer paying to use the ship, frames the project as a way to learn rather than a guaranteed result.
Through this technology project, we will gain important knowledge about ammonia as a potential fuel for offshore vessels.
Mette Ottoy, senior vice president of joint operations support at Equinor. Source 5.