diff --git a/cartographer_ros/cartographer_ros/offline_node.cc b/cartographer_ros/cartographer_ros/offline_node.cc
index 7709c50..e5f40e7 100644
--- a/cartographer_ros/cartographer_ros/offline_node.cc
+++ b/cartographer_ros/cartographer_ros/offline_node.cc
@@ -236,7 +236,11 @@ void RunOfflineNode(const MapBuilderFactory& map_builder_factory) {
 
   // TODO(gaschler): Warn if resolved topics are not in bags.
   std::unordered_map<int, int> bag_index_to_trajectory_id;
-  const ros::Time begin_time = playable_bag_multiplexer.PeekMessageTime();
+  const ros::Time begin_time =
+      // If no bags were loaded, we cannot peek the time of first message.
+      playable_bag_multiplexer.IsMessageAvailable()
+          ? playable_bag_multiplexer.PeekMessageTime()
+          : ros::Time();
   while (playable_bag_multiplexer.IsMessageAvailable()) {
     if (!::ros::ok()) {
       return;