diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
index 7accd4f..f5f79a8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/FileUtils.java
@@ -329,7 +329,10 @@ public class FileUtils {
             conn.setRequestProperty("User-Agent", "UrlsController");
             conn.connect();
             int statusCode = conn.getResponseCode();
-            if ( statusCode != 200 ) {
+            if ( statusCode == -1 ) {
+                logger.warn("Problem when getting the \"status-code\" for url: " + requestUrl);
+                throw new RuntimeException();
+            } else if ( statusCode != 200 ) {
                 logger.warn("HTTP-" + statusCode + ": " + getMessageFromResponseBody(conn, true) + "\n\nProblem when requesting the ZstdFile of batch_" + batchNum + " from the Worker with ID \"" + workerId + "\" and requestUrl: " + requestUrl);
                 if ( (statusCode >= 500) && (statusCode <= 599) )
                     throw new RuntimeException();   // Throw an exception to indicate that the Worker has problems and all remaining batches will fail as well.
diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
index 8634f82..98a5529 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/openaire/urls_controller/util/ParquetFileUtils.java
@@ -585,16 +585,20 @@ public class ParquetFileUtils {
             conn.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false); // We will handle the redirection ourselves.
             conn.connect();
             int statusCode = conn.getResponseCode();
-            if ( statusCode != 200 ) {
+            if ( statusCode == -1 ) {
+                logger.error("Problem when getting the \"status-code\" for url: " + createDirectoryUrl);
+                return false;
+            }
+            else if ( statusCode != 200 ) {
                 String errorMsg = "We expected a \"200 OK\" response, but got: \"" + statusCode + "\" instead, for url: " + createDirectoryUrl;
                 logger.error(errorMsg + "\n\n" + fileUtils.getMessageFromResponseBody(conn, true));
                 return false;
             }
+            logger.trace("Creation was successful for hdfs-dir-url: " + createDirectoryUrl + "\n" + fileUtils.getMessageFromResponseBody(conn, false));
         } catch (Exception e) {
             logger.error("", e);
             return false;
         }
-
         return true;
     }