diff --git a/gateway/src/main.rs b/gateway/src/main.rs
index c457ed83..1afaef4f 100644
--- a/gateway/src/main.rs
+++ b/gateway/src/main.rs
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ async fn init_gateway(
     if shard_count < 16 {
         scheme = ShardScheme::Auto;
     } else {
-        let cluster_id = env::var("NOMAD_ALLOC_INDEX")?.parse::<u64>().unwrap();
+        let cluster_id = env::var("NOMAD_ALLOC_INDEX").or("0").parse::<u64>().unwrap();
         let first_shard_id = 16 * cluster_id;
 
         scheme = ShardScheme::try_from((first_shard_id..first_shard_id+16, shard_count)).unwrap();