diff --git a/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/modd_structure2_ll.f90 b/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/modd_structure2_ll.f90
index 3b04ba768724c80140e10aa1af7a7d4071651e1d..174cb15ad9d9c1301c30164cbaa3f7410008ae6d 100644
--- a/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/modd_structure2_ll.f90
+++ b/src/LIB/SURCOUCHE/src/modd_structure2_ll.f90
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-!MNH_LIC Copyright 1998-2019 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
+!MNH_LIC Copyright 1998-2023 CNRS, Meteo-France and Universite Paul Sabatier
 !MNH_LIC This is part of the Meso-NH software governed by the CeCILL-C licence
 !MNH_LIC version 1. See LICENSE, CeCILL-C_V1-en.txt and CeCILL-C_V1-fr.txt
 !MNH_LIC for details. version 1.
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ MODULE MODD_STRUCTURE2_ll
 !!    -------------
 !
 !    Original 04/05/98
+! P. Wautelet 13/06/2023: use allocatables instead of pointers
 !
 !-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !
@@ -45,10 +46,10 @@ TYPE HALO2_ll
 !
 ! Type for the second layer of the halo
 !
-  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), POINTER :: WEST  => NULL()
-  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), POINTER :: EAST  => NULL()
-  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), POINTER :: NORTH => NULL()
-  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), POINTER :: SOUTH => NULL()
+  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), ALLOCATABLE :: WEST
+  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), ALLOCATABLE :: EAST
+  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), ALLOCATABLE :: NORTH
+  REAL, DIMENSION(:,:), ALLOCATABLE :: SOUTH
 !
 END TYPE HALO2_ll
 !