Shipping of human corpses fast but costly

The remains of almost 2000 people were brought into New Zealand over the past three years, according to Customs.

The figures, released under the Official Information Act, show that since 2016 about 500 corpses and ashes have been imported each year.

The number of cases where human remains had exited the country was lower, with about 250 corpses or ashes leaving New Zealand shores each year.

Transporting a body can be expensive – for example, returning a body from the United States can cost more than $10,000, depending on its size.

Funeral director Steven Davey said he regularly worked with families to bring loved ones back to New Zealand.

‘‘There are traditions around some cultures when it comes to returning bodies to their homeland. We have a lot of requests to return people to the Pacific Islands, along with Australia, and some to the US.’’

Organising a body to be transported internationally did not take as much time as people thought, Davey said. However, there were protocols. The body had to be embalmed and the coffin hermetically sealed to stop ‘‘leakage’’.

Having a body cremated overseas and then bringing the ashes back was usually much cheaper, Davey said.

‘‘We have been able to organise a repatriation within 48 hours.’’

Already in 2019 the remains of 174 people have left the country, while 292 had come into New Zealand.

That excluded human ashes that entered or exited the country as handheld luggage, or with sea passengers.