diff --git a/dune/gfe/vtkfile.hh b/dune/gfe/vtkfile.hh
index 02bf95a83bb5dde288b2e6f9d81078b2e9c858ca..ec9090f6eb245b46e55297e1c410b71053e6e7b4 100644
--- a/dune/gfe/vtkfile.hh
+++ b/dune/gfe/vtkfile.hh
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@ namespace Dune {
 
     public:
 
+      /** \brief Empty constructor, for a single-process situation */
+      VTKFile()
+      : commRank_(0),
+        commSize_(1)
+      {}
+
       /** \brief Constructor taking the communicator rank and size */
       VTKFile(int commRank, int commSize)
       : commRank_(commRank),