diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 68777f3f..d9fbebcd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 LOG_LEVEL ?= info
+DATA_DIR ?= /data
 
 build-docker:
 	docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t sim-ln .
@@ -15,14 +16,15 @@ help:
 	@echo "stop              Stops the Docker container."
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Variables:"
-	@echo "SIMFILE_PATH       Path to the sim.json file."
+	@echo "SIMFILE_PATH      Path to the sim.json file."
 	@echo "LOG_LEVEL         Set the logging level (default: info) e.g. <make run LOG_LEVEL=debug>"
 	@echo "HELP              Set to true to print the help message (default: false) e.g. <make run HELP=true>"
 	@echo "PRINT_BATCH_SIZE  Set the batch size for printing the results e.g. <make run PRINT_BATCH_SIZE=100>"
 	@echo "TOTAL_TIME        Set the total time for the simulation e.g. <make run TOTAL_TIME=1000>"
+	@echo "DATA_DIR          Set the data directory for the simulation containing simulation files and results e.g. <make run-docker DATA_DIR="/Users/anon/data>""
 
 run-docker:
-	docker run -d --rm --name sim-ln --init -v simln-data:/data -e SIMFILE_PATH=/data/sim.json -e LOG_LEVEL=$(LOG_LEVEL) -e HELP=${HELP} -e PRINT_BATCH_SIZE=${PRINT_BATCH_SIZE} -e TOTAL_TIME=${TOTAL_TIME} sim-ln
+	docker run -d --rm --name sim-ln --init -v simln-data:/data -e SIMFILE_PATH=/data/sim.json -e DATA_DIR=${DATA_DIR} -e LOG_LEVEL=$(LOG_LEVEL) -e HELP=${HELP} -e PRINT_BATCH_SIZE=${PRINT_BATCH_SIZE} -e TOTAL_TIME=${TOTAL_TIME} sim-ln
 
 run-interactive:
 	docker run --rm --name sim-ln --init -v simln-data:/data -e SIMFILE_PATH=/data/sim.json -it sim-ln
diff --git a/docker/README.md b/docker/README.md
index 19500934..27f13f45 100644
--- a/docker/README.md
+++ b/docker/README.md
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ Other configurable variables include:
 - `HELP`: Set to `true` to print the help message.
 - `PRINT_BATCH_SIZE`: determines the number of payment results that will be written to disk at a time.
 - `TOTAL_TIME`: the total runtime for the simulation expressed in seconds.
+- `DATA_DIR`: Path to a directory containing simulation files, and where simulation results will be stored (default is the `/data` volume directory)
 
 Example usage:
 
diff --git a/docker/entrypoint.sh b/docker/entrypoint.sh
index e850025c..781b918f 100644
--- a/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 # Define the start command
-START_COMMAND="/usr/local/bin/sim-cli $SIMFILE_PATH"
+START_COMMAND="/usr/local/bin/sim-cli --sim-file $SIMFILE_PATH"
+
+# Check if a custom data directory was provided
+if [[ ! -z ${DATA_DIR} ]]; then
+    START_COMMAND="$START_COMMAND --data-dir $DATA_DIR"
+fi
 
 # Check for version arg
 if [[ ! -z ${VERSION} ]]; then