He said the new branding has been painted on the ship over the last few days.

Pictured: Lee Mauger took both photos of the newly branded Condor Islander at Wellington Harbour in New Zealand on Tuesday evening (NZ time).  

John Napton, Condor Ferries’ CEO confirmed the rebranding has started with the name decals applied.

He said Condor crew members are in Wellington to oversee the work and to prepare the vessel for relocation.

"Our focus now is on repositioning Condor Islander to Europe and readying her for entry into service," he said. "Name decals have been applied and our crew are in Wellington preparing the vessel for departure.

"The plan is to leave later this month and her journey will take around seven weeks via the Panama Canal and Atlantic Ocean. She will arrive in early Summer and then be placed in dry dock for maintenance and rebranding.

"Once this has been completed, the ship will undergo berthing trials in Portsmouth, Jersey, Guernsey and St Malo prior to entering service later this year."

Pictured: Last month it was revealed that the new vessel hasn't been bought, despite its purchase being announced as a 'done deal'.

The Islander is expected to start Channel Island services later this year, but at this stage it's not known if Condor has yet bought the boat.

The purchase was announced at the beginning of March with the ferry firm saying it had spent more than a year searching for a suitable passenger and freight ship.

The 125m long MV Straitsman was identified as suitable for our waters and would be able to 'improve capacity, resilience and connectivity' between the islands, the UK and France. The 18-year-old vessel can carry 400 passengers and travel at a speed of 18.5 knots.

The ship has been bought jointly between Condor Ferries and the Guernsey Investment Fund - a private, closed ended fund, which the States of Guernsey is an investor into. An infrastructure cell is being formed to buy the boat - but that had not been done by the time of a Scrutiny hearing into Policy and Resource's work on 21 March.

Treasury Lead, Deputy Mark Helyar said P&R has committed to invest £5million in the Infrastructure cell but that had not yet been paid out because the cell hadn't been set up and the boat had not yet been bought.

Express has asked Condor if the rebranding of the vessel means it has now been bought. No one was available for comment today but the ferry firm said it will get back to us.

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