After upgrading docker-build-step from 1.6 to 1.7 the plug-in is not functional any more

Docker build steps in jobs are not working:
[Docker] ERROR: command 'Start container(s)' failed: No such container 0cdf43e7830b

This container actually exists. It seems like the process breaks quite early as the configuration dialog (REST URL) already throws an error:

Cannot ping REST endpoint of http://<hostname>:<port>/

Reverting to 1.6 solved the problem. Unfortunately 1.6 has other showstoppers and is not an alternative option for me.

Deletion of old configuration did not make any difference.