diff --git a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/SCMContainerManager.java b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/SCMContainerManager.java
index 5857c4c4f243..bd14be7a46c1 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/SCMContainerManager.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdds/server-scm/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdds/scm/container/SCMContainerManager.java
@@ -348,9 +348,15 @@ private HddsProtos.LifeCycleState updateContainerState(
       if (!skipPipelineToContainerRemove) {
         if (oldState == LifeCycleState.OPEN &&
             newState != LifeCycleState.OPEN) {
-          pipelineManager
-              .removeContainerFromPipeline(container.getPipelineID(),
-                  containerID);
+          try {
+            pipelineManager
+                .removeContainerFromPipeline(container.getPipelineID(),
+                    containerID);
+          } catch (PipelineNotFoundException e) {
+            LOG.warn("Unable to remove container {} from pipeline {} " +
+                " as the pipeline no longer exists",
+                containerID, container.getPipelineID());
+          }
         }
       }
       if (newState == LifeCycleState.DELETED) {