diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index bf8da92892377b2e9fbae1501f7e6d505fdb657c..d82b10cb6f5668ccde8e5dbe91e85cf876241840 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -207,16 +207,18 @@ build_ST_MAC:
     paths:
       - build/gnucxx11_opt
 
-
 build_lofar_pulp_docker_image:
   stage: build
   script:
     - docker build -t ci_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA Docker/pulp-base
     - docker build --build-arg BASE_VERSION=$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA --build-arg LOFAR_TAG=$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME -t ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA Docker/lofar-pulp
+    - docker login -u $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_USERNAME -p $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY
+    - docker tag ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_LOCATION/ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
+    - docker push $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_LOCATION/ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
+    - docker logout $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY
   interruptible: true
   when: manual # pulp docker images take a long time to build. It does not/hardly depend on currently developed lofar code. So an automatic build for each lofar commit is not needed.
 
-
 #
 # UNIT TEST STAGE
 #
@@ -347,23 +349,6 @@ dockerize_TMSS:
     - job: build_SCU
       artifacts: true
 
-
-dockerize_PULP:
-  # The dockerize step is meant to create small images ready for production with marginal overhead.
-  # For PULP we don't know (yet) what we can and cannot extract/remove from the ci_lofar_pulp image
-  # Therefor - for the time being - we just upload the full ci_lofar_pulp image to nexus, making it ready for deployment
-  stage: dockerize
-  allow_failure: true
-  script:
-    - docker login -u $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_USERNAME -p $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY
-    - docker tag ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_LOCATION/ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
-    - docker push $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_LOCATION/ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA
-    - docker logout $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY
-  interruptible: true
-  needs:
-    - job: build_lofar_pulp_docker_image
-      artifacts: true
-
 #
 # INTEGRATION TEST STAGE
 #
@@ -606,7 +591,6 @@ deploy-CCU_MAC-prod:
   allow_failure: true
   when: manual
 
-
 deploy-PULP-prod:
   stage: deploy-prod
   before_script:
@@ -623,7 +607,7 @@ deploy-PULP-prod:
     # the pulp pipeline is built to be run as lofar-pulp:$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME through setting the LOFAR_TAG in build_lofar_pulp_docker_image
     - ssh lofarsys@head.cep4.control.lofar "clush -S -P -w cpu[01-50] -w gpu[01-04] -w head[01-02] docker tag $CI_NEXUS_REGISTRY_LOCATION/ci_lofar_pulp:$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA lofar-pulp:$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
   needs:
-    - dockerize_PULP
+    - build_lofar_pulp_docker_image
   when: manual
   only:
     - tags