"It appears from the opening of the financial proposals of all the bidders, that the consortium of PSA/ Aitken Spence PLC has tendered the highest bid," Aitken Spence said in a statement to the Colombo stock exchange.
"The award of the project to the successful bidder is subject to further evaluation from the authorities and the final decision on the award of the project will be upon the issue of a letter of intent in terms of the request for proposals," the statement added.
It gave no figures or any other details for its bid.
Financial proposals to build the south container terminal in the Colombo port expansion project were opened on Thursday.
Port officials said the Aitken Spence/PSA consortium and an independent bid by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) appeared to be the front-runners.
HPH and PSA Corp are two of the world's biggest port operators.