diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Chains.pm b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Chains.pm
index 90ebb87a8..9c3ec8388 100644
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Chains.pm
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Chains.pm
@@ -1793,6 +1793,7 @@ sub optimize_ruleset() {
 			}
 			
 			replace_references1 $chainref1, $chainref->{name}, '';
+			$progress = 1;
 		    }
 		}
 	    }