diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/AbstractMultiFileWriter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/AbstractMultiFileWriter.java
index 2fdab813132..43d0ad8858a 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/AbstractMultiFileWriter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/AbstractMultiFileWriter.java
@@ -21,12 +21,10 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
-
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
-import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.CellSink;
 
 /**
  * Base class for cell sink that separates the provided cells into multiple files.
@@ -119,9 +117,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractMultiFileWriter implements CellSink, ShipperListen
 
   @Override
   public void beforeShipped() throws IOException {
-    if (this.writers() != null) {
-      for (StoreFileWriter writer : writers()) {
-        writer.beforeShipped();
+    Collection<StoreFileWriter> writers = writers();
+    if (writers != null) {
+      for (StoreFileWriter writer : writers) {
+        if (writer != null) {
+          writer.beforeShipped();
+        }
       }
     }
   }