diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/docker/DockerContainer.java b/core/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/docker/DockerContainer.java
index bd0f43c745..8effb41f2a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/docker/DockerContainer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/docker/DockerContainer.java
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@
 
 package org.polypheny.db.docker;
 
+import com.github.dockerjava.api.DockerClient;
+import com.github.dockerjava.api.command.InspectContainerResponse;
+import com.github.dockerjava.core.DefaultDockerClientConfig;
+import com.github.dockerjava.core.DockerClientConfig;
+import com.github.dockerjava.core.DockerClientImpl;
+import com.github.dockerjava.httpclient5.ApacheDockerHttpClient;
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -26,6 +32,7 @@
 import java.net.SocketException;
 import java.net.StandardSocketOptions;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -250,6 +257,27 @@ public HostAndPort connectToContainer( int port ) {
     }
 
 
+    public HostAndPort connectToContainerDirectly( int port ) {
+        DockerClientConfig config = DefaultDockerClientConfig
+                .createDefaultConfigBuilder()
+                .build();
+
+        ApacheDockerHttpClient httpClient = new ApacheDockerHttpClient.Builder()
+                .dockerHost( config.getDockerHost() )
+                .sslConfig( config.getSSLConfig() )
+                .responseTimeout( Duration.ofSeconds( RuntimeConfig.DOCKER_TIMEOUT.getInteger() ) )
+                .connectionTimeout( Duration.ofSeconds( RuntimeConfig.DOCKER_TIMEOUT.getInteger() ) )
+                .build();
+
+        DockerClient client = DockerClientImpl.getInstance( config, httpClient );
+
+        InspectContainerResponse resp = client.inspectContainerCmd( this.containerId ).exec();
+
+        String ip = resp.getNetworkSettings().getNetworks().get( "polypheny-internal" ).getIpAddress();
+        return new HostAndPort( ip, port );
+    }
+
+
     /**
      * The container gets probed until the defined ready supplier returns true or the timeout is reached
      */
diff --git a/plugins/postgres-adapter/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/adapter/postgres/store/PostgresqlStore.java b/plugins/postgres-adapter/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/adapter/postgres/store/PostgresqlStore.java
index 7349eea5f0..242a55c5b3 100644
--- a/plugins/postgres-adapter/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/adapter/postgres/store/PostgresqlStore.java
+++ b/plugins/postgres-adapter/src/main/java/org/polypheny/db/adapter/postgres/store/PostgresqlStore.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 import org.polypheny.db.adapter.jdbc.connection.TransactionalConnectionFactory;
 import org.polypheny.db.adapter.jdbc.stores.AbstractJdbcStore;
 import org.polypheny.db.adapter.postgres.PostgresqlSqlDialect;
+import org.polypheny.db.catalog.Catalog;
 import org.polypheny.db.catalog.entity.allocation.AllocationTable;
 import org.polypheny.db.catalog.entity.logical.LogicalColumn;
 import org.polypheny.db.catalog.entity.logical.LogicalIndex;
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@
 import org.polypheny.db.type.PolyType;
 import org.polypheny.db.type.PolyTypeFamily;
 import org.polypheny.db.util.PasswordGenerator;
+import org.polypheny.db.util.RunMode;
 
 
 @Slf4j
@@ -372,7 +374,13 @@ private boolean testDockerConnection() {
             return false;
         }
 
-        HostAndPort hp = container.connectToContainer( 5432 );
+        HostAndPort hp;
+        if ( Catalog.mode == RunMode.BENCHMARK ) {
+            log.warn( "Using direct Docker connection in benchmark mode" );
+            hp = container.connectToContainerDirectly( 5432 );
+        } else {
+            hp = container.connectToContainer( 5432 );
+        }
         this.host = hp.host();
         this.port = hp.port();