In yet another one of Greece’s frequent cabinet reshuffles, Europe’s biggest shipowning nation got a new merchant marine minister on Friday.

Vassilis Kikilias, who turns 51 in May, replaces Cypriot-born Christos Stylianidis, who had been running the portfolio since September 2023.

A professional basketball player in his youth, Kikilias is a conservative career politician who has held three different cabinet posts since 2019 under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.