Surging demand during the coronavirus pandemic will power shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk past its own earnings forecasts with massive growth in the first quarter, it said in preliminary figures. The Danish group released late Monday an "unaudited" revenue figure of $12.4 billion (10.2 billion euros) for January-March -- up almost 30 percent on the same period last year. Meanwhile it forecast operating profit before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $3.1 billion, ahead of a full quarterly report on May 5. "Continued strong performance is mainly driven by the continuation of the exceptional market situation with surging demand leading to bottlenecks in the supply chain and equipment (containers) shortage," the company said. Seaborne freight volumes have increased 5.7 percent, while average prices have shot up 35 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, it added. Maersk lifted its full-year EBIT forecast to $9-11 billion, almost double its previous estimate. With operations in 130 countries, Maersk employs around 80,000 people worldwide. cbw/nzg/tgb/wdb