Nah, I think they're just shipping them.
NZ used P-40s in the pacific after the fall of Singapore, Prior to that most NZ units in the far east were Hurricane, but once Singapore fell we ended up mostly with US manufactured birds like the Buffalo and P-40 in the pacific and asian battles.
488NZ squadron RAF was a colonial defence unit, RAF funded the planes and NZ provided and trained the pilots under the commonwealth air force scheme. They were in Singapore with Brewsters as a green unit, re-equipped with Hurricanes as they arrived for the defence after Japan entered the war, withdrawn from Singapore back to NZ where the pilots were later reformed as RNZAF 14 Sqn with Harvards and later Kittyhawkss, finishing the war with Corsairs.
Meanwhile 488NZ RAF was reformed a little later in England as a Beaufighter unit.
The European units all remained Brit planes, Hurricanes, Typhoons, Spitfires, Tempests, Beaufighters.
If you look, one photo has them being craned on board, they have no arrestors to make a captive landing.
The flying photos would be just taking off to land at the destination where there is no chance to trundle them down the road from the docks to the airfield.