diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/docker-compose/.env b/sdks/java/transform-service/docker-compose/.env
index 39813124648b..ed27b267fed3 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/docker-compose/.env
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/docker-compose/.env
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ DEPENDENCIES_VOLUME=$DEPENDENCIES_VOLUME
 
 # A requirements file with either of the following
 # *  PyPi packages
-# Locally available packages relative to the directory provided to
-# DEPENDENCIES_VOLUME.
+# * Locally available packages relative to the directory provided to
+#   DEPENDENCIES_VOLUME.
 PYTHON_REQUIREMENTS_FILE_NAME=$PYTHON_REQUIREMENTS_FILE_NAME
 
 GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_FILE_NAME=application_default_credentials.json
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionService.java b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionService.java
index b9739f5d0582..0a2e65099e7d 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionService.java
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionService.java
@@ -76,8 +76,12 @@ private void waitForAllServicesToBeReady() throws TimeoutException {
         try {
           String url = endpoint.getUrl();
           int portIndex = url.lastIndexOf(":");
-          int port = portIndex > 0 ? Integer.parseInt(url.substring(portIndex + 1)) : 80;
-          String host = portIndex > 0 ? url.substring(0, portIndex) : url;
+          if (portIndex <= 0) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(
+                "Expected the endpoint to be of the form <host>:<port> but received " + url);
+          }
+          int port = Integer.parseInt(url.substring(portIndex + 1));
+          String host = url.substring(0, portIndex);
           new Socket(host, port).close();
           // Current service is up. Checking the next one.
           continue outer;