diff --git a/templates/common/run_icon.sh b/templates/common/run_icon.sh
index e1335a21b13c29274c088b508820e20278002563..c144fb25bc421f91658466b6956140bae981ef1a 100644
--- a/templates/common/run_icon.sh
+++ b/templates/common/run_icon.sh
@@ -40,4 +40,5 @@ ${ICON_LAUNCH_CMD} icon
 
 # copy namelists to output directory
 OUTPUT_DIR=${WORKDIR}/output/${STARTDATE}/${MEMBER}
+mkdir -p ${OUTPUT_DIR}
 cp *.namelist ${OUTPUT_DIR}
\ No newline at end of file