The Danish shipping giant saw freight rates improve 80% compared with a year before.
That more than offset a fall in ocean-going container volumes, which fell by 4% in the last three months of the year.
Maersk put the results down to the global disruption in supply chains.
Moving freight around is now a more expensive business because of it.
Underlying earnings came to $8 billion.
It was above the company's own guidance in November and outperformed analyst projections.
Revenue hit $18.5 billion - again beating market expectations.
Maersk is due to publish its full financial results on February 9th.
The firm's share price was down more than 2% by early afternoon Friday.
