While visitors experience an Expo when the doors open, the logistics required to bring pavilions to life start months earlier. The work supporting Saudi Arabia's pavilion in Osaka began with site surveys in late 2024, ahead of pavilion's April 2025 opening, and inbound waves of freight started arriving in early 2025. Applying that timeline to Belgrade, a May 2027 opening means the first survey window will happen as early as this winter.
"Most teams come to logistics after the build is designed," said Marcel Meyer, Global VP Events, EFM, an ICAT Company. "By then the expensive constraints are already fixed. Crate dimensions, aircraft availability, customs treatment for artwork, storage within reach of the site. We were walking the Osaka ground months before the first shipment moved, and that is the only reason a twelve-rotation gallery program held its dates."
EFM managed the majority of the pavilion's logistics, coordinating more than 100 shipments over the life of the Expo and moving an estimated 300 to 400 metric tons of air freight. The scope ran from air, sea and road freight and ATA Carnet formalities to roughly 1,000 square meters of warehousing in Osaka, pick and pack, specialist art handling and on-site installation, down to a fully fitted coffee shop, crockery included.
The gallery program was the hardest part of the assignment: 12 rotations of artwork across six months, accounting for an estimated 50 tonnes of movements. EFM collected pieces in Saudi Arabia, wrote condition reports, built custom crates, flew the work to Osaka and stored it there. A dedicated art-handling team installed, de-rigged and re-packed overnight between rotations.
The pavilion took the event's Gold Award for Architecture and Landscape and drew more than three million of the 28 million people who visited Expo 2025 Osaka across its 184-day run, which closed on October 13, 2025.
"What made Osaka uniquely challenging was capacity and cadence," Meyer added. "With limited wide-body lift into Kansai International Airport and 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."
That constraint rewards early planning most, because every country competes for the same finite lift into the same gateway in the same few weeks. Belgrade will tighten it further. Its 25-hectare site in Surčin is expected to hold 130 or more national pavilions inside a 93-day window, squeezing the inbound build and the outbound strike at both ends.
EFM worked with the Saudi Ministry of Culture and its production partners, and supported pavilions for Brazil, Serbia, Peru and Ecuador.
"Expo is a different kind of proving ground," said Jake Blount, EVP of Sales, ICAT Logistics. "Our customers operate where failure is not an option, and Osaka showed what's possible when planning starts early and experienced teams are in place to execute from day one.
For teams planning toward Belgrade or Riyadh, the survey work begins long before the freight schedule starts to look urgent.
For more on EFM, an ICAT Company and its specialist logistics services, visit https://efm.global/inside-expo-2025-osaka/.
About EFM Global
Founded 25 years ago, EFM Global is a specialist freight forwarding company dedicated to live events, exhibitions, sports and entertainment logistics. With offices and agency partners across Europe, the Middle East, North America and Australia, EFM delivers complex logistics projects worldwide with precision and care. The company's expertise ranges from international freight forwarding, customs clearance and site management to sustainable logistics solutions, serving clients such as major museums, touring exhibitions, global sporting events and government institutions.
About ICAT Logistics
ICAT is the world's leading specialized logistics company, delivering customized solutions and deep vertical expertise to industries where failure is not an option. With 65 offices and operating capabilities in 190 countries, ICAT serves customers across Live Events, Luxury, Technology, Defense & Aerospace, Life Sciences, and Financial Institutions, sectors defined by uncompromising performance standards. ICAT's proprietary, AI-powered technology platform provides end-to-end visibility and predictive intelligence, enabling precise execution for the most demanding operations.
Media Contact:
Tyler Thornton
LeadCoverage
[email protected]
SOURCE ICAT Logistics, Inc.
Share this article