World Expos are built for spectacle, but they run on logistics. At Expo 2025 Osaka, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s pavilion became one of the event’s most complex operational builds, requiring continuous freight movement, customs coordination and precision-timed deliveries across an evolving live programme.

EFM Global was appointed to manage the majority of the pavilion’s logistics, a role that stretched far beyond a single construction push. Over the life of the Expo, EFM coordinated more than 100 shipments, moving an estimated 300–400 metric tons of air freight, alongside sea and road movements. The operation included customs formalities, including ATA Carnets, local warehousing of around 1,000 square metres in Osaka, additional capacity in Saudi Arabia, and ongoing pick-and-pack distribution and replenishment.

“There’s nothing routine about an Expo,” said Marcel Meyer, Global VP Events, EFM Global. “It requires synchronisation of construction materials, audiovisual systems, F&B inventory, even a fully fitted coffee shop down to the crockery and chinaware, with a rotating fine-arts program that changes monthly. Every crate we built was purpose-engineered, every piece was condition-checked, insured, escorted, and every handover had to land precisely on a live, public-facing schedule.”

A major feature of the assignment was EFM’s end-to-end management of the pavilion’s gallery programme, which included 12 rotations of artworks across six months. EFM collected the pieces in Saudi Arabia, conducted condition reports, built custom crates, arranged air freight, and stored the works in Osaka before deploying a dedicated art-handling team overnight to install, de-rig and re-pack between rotations. Across the Expo run, artwork movements alone accounted for an estimated 50 tonnes, including framing, canvas stretching, sculpture placement and full documentation.

EFM also handled time-critical freight for the pavilion’s Saudi National Day celebration, moving show elements ranging from musical instruments to theatrical props; deliveries that often depended on narrow access windows and precise venue scheduling.

“What made Osaka uniquely challenging was capacity and cadence,” Meyer added. “With limited wide-body lift into Kansai International Airport and just a single daily connection on key routings, we staged freight via Riyadh and Dubai, throttled releases to match aircraft space, and mirrored operations across time zones with our teams in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The choreography had to be exact.”

Alongside the Saudi pavilion, EFM also supported other national presences at Expo 2025 Osaka, including Brazil, Serbia, Peru and Ecuador, plus select contributions to the U.S. pavilion and other Latin American activations.