Expats want to leave Hong Kong- but that’s an expensive thing to do
After two years of Covid-19 restrictions and political crackdowns in Hong Kong, expats there want to leave. But doing that costs a lot of money in shipping, and pet relocations. It’s not just finances that keep Hong Kong Expats from moving. People who move often have to wait months after shipping their belongings to actually receive them. Hong Kong has also banned flights from nine countries, including the US and UK.
Shipping things out of Hong Kong is a nightmare. It costs HK$150,000 to ship a 20-foot container from Hong Kong to the UK. One professor who plans to move to Austria told the Bangkok Post she expects to pay HK$236,000, or US$30,000, to ship a 40-foot container. In pre-Covid-19 days, it took about 40 days for things to be shipped to Europe. Now, it takes as long as 120 days because some firms wait for prices to drop before they ship.
Getting her four pets out of Hong Kong will also be a nightmare for the professor. She said it will cost her an extra US$30,000 to bring her three dogs and a cat on a private jet. She can’t take all of them on a commercial flight because of limits. The professor is now looking for other pet owners leaving Hong Kong who will share the cost with her.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
