diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8786fd3aa8559..0cccb6ffdcc04 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ You can pass the following environment variables to LocalStack:
   started in different containers using docker-compose.
 * `HOSTNAME_EXTERNAL`: Name of the host to expose the services externally (defaults to `localhost`).
   This host is used, e.g., when returning queue URLs from the SQS service to the client.
+* `<SERVICE>_PORT_EXTERNAL`: Number of the port to expose a specific service externally (defaults to service ports above)
+  This SQS_PORT_EXTERNAL, for example, is used when returning queue URLs from the SQS service to the client.
 * `USE_SSL`: Whether to use `https://...` URLs with SSL encryption (defaults to `false`).
 * `KINESIS_ERROR_PROBABILITY`: Decimal value between 0.0 (default) and 1.0 to randomly
   inject `ProvisionedThroughputExceededException` errors into Kinesis API responses.
diff --git a/localstack/config.py b/localstack/config.py
index 8b5f769a92967..f0222acdba3a4 100644
--- a/localstack/config.py
+++ b/localstack/config.py
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@
     backend_override_var = '%s_BACKEND' % key.upper().replace('-', '_')
     if os.environ.get(backend_override_var):
         CONFIG_ENV_VARS.append(backend_override_var)
+    port_external_override_var = '%s_PORT_EXTERNAL' % key.upper().replace('-', '_')
+    if os.environ.get(port_external_override_var):
+        CONFIG_ENV_VARS.append(port_external_override_var)
 
 def in_docker():
     """ Returns: True if running in a docker container, else False """
diff --git a/localstack/services/sqs/sqs_listener.py b/localstack/services/sqs/sqs_listener.py
index 3207071ca6cf7..3f596035d3e13 100644
--- a/localstack/services/sqs/sqs_listener.py
+++ b/localstack/services/sqs/sqs_listener.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlencode
 from requests.models import Request, Response
 from localstack import config
-from localstack.config import HOSTNAME_EXTERNAL
+from localstack.config import HOSTNAME_EXTERNAL, SQS_PORT_EXTERNAL
 from localstack.utils.common import to_str
 from localstack.utils.analytics import event_publisher
 from localstack.services.generic_proxy import ProxyListener
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def return_response(self, method, path, data, headers, response, request_handler
                     # return https://... if we're supposed to use SSL
                     content_str = re.sub(r'<QueueUrl>\s*http://', r'<QueueUrl>https://', content_str)
                 # expose external hostname:port
-                external_port = get_external_port(headers, request_handler)
+                external_port = SQS_PORT_EXTERNAL if SQS_PORT_EXTERNAL else get_external_port(headers, request_handler)
                 content_str = re.sub(r'<QueueUrl>\s*([a-z]+)://[^<]*:([0-9]+)/([^<]*)\s*</QueueUrl>',
                     r'<QueueUrl>\1://%s:%s/\3</QueueUrl>' % (HOSTNAME_EXTERNAL, external_port), content_str)
                 new_response._content = content_str