diff --git a/scripts/msg_dumper.py b/scripts/msg_dumper.py
index 190fb3e88a06773d29833d766f902166adbeb422..25e231a1e8d2f01680d9a52c455fc4c1ed604ab9 100755
--- a/scripts/msg_dumper.py
+++ b/scripts/msg_dumper.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from km3pipe.io import CHPump
 
 def current_date_str(fmt="%Y-%m-%d"):
     """Return the current datetime string"""
-    return datetime.datetime.now().strftime(fmt)
+    return datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime(fmt)
 
 
 class MSGDumper(Module):