diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 57d64284f798d07ec9495b84cb1e54a8021ae022..7469379610042de8e2a7bc5bf4f62ab68ea5d842 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
 
 * Changes in SLURM 1.2.6
 ========================
+ -- Fix MPIRUN_PORT env variable in mvapich plugin
 
 * Changes in SLURM 1.2.5
 ========================
diff --git a/src/plugins/mpi/mvapich/mvapich.c b/src/plugins/mpi/mvapich/mvapich.c
index e50b33b458bef26347f37cee7402679483e6dc98..dc2637f45b57003a6dfb6a4d3fc342f1a8528dca 100644
--- a/src/plugins/mpi/mvapich/mvapich.c
+++ b/src/plugins/mpi/mvapich/mvapich.c
@@ -1070,7 +1070,7 @@ extern mvapich_state_t *mvapich_thr_create(const mpi_plugin_client_info_t *job,
 	 *  Set some environment variables in current env so they'll get
 	 *   passed to all remote tasks
 	 */
-	env_array_overwrite_fmt(env, "MPIRUN_PORT",   "%d", port);
+	env_array_overwrite_fmt(env, "MPIRUN_PORT",   "%hu", port);
 	env_array_overwrite_fmt(env, "MPIRUN_NPROCS", "%d", st->nprocs);
 	env_array_overwrite_fmt(env, "MPIRUN_ID",     "%d", st->job->jobid);
 	if (st->connect_once) {