diff --git a/cmd/loader/main.go b/cmd/loader/main.go
index 8a92a1d..b2f7b11 100644
--- a/cmd/loader/main.go
+++ b/cmd/loader/main.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	defaultMMDBPath      = "/data/GeoLite2-City.mmdb"
 	defaultSchema        = "geoip"
-	defaultLoaderTimeout = 5 * time.Minute
+	defaultLoaderTimeout = 30 * time.Minute
 )
 
 type cityRecord struct {
@@ -57,18 +57,19 @@ type cityRow struct {
 }
 
 func main() {
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), defaultLoaderTimeout)
-	defer cancel()
-
 	dbURL := os.Getenv("DATABASE_URL")
 	if dbURL == "" {
 		log.Fatal("DATABASE_URL is required")
 	}
 
 	mmdbPath := env("GEOIP_DB_PATH", defaultMMDBPath)
+	timeout := envDuration("GEOIP_LOADER_TIMEOUT", defaultLoaderTimeout)
 	skipIfSame := envBool("GEOIP_LOADER_SKIP_IF_SAME_HASH", true)
 	force := envBool("GEOIP_LOADER_FORCE", false)
 
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), timeout)
+	defer cancel()
+
 	log.Printf("starting mmdb load from %s", mmdbPath)
 
 	hash, err := fileSHA256(mmdbPath)
@@ -131,6 +132,18 @@ func envBool(key string, fallback bool) bool {
 	return parsed
 }
 
+func envDuration(key string, fallback time.Duration) time.Duration {
+	val := os.Getenv(key)
+	if val == "" {
+		return fallback
+	}
+	d, err := time.ParseDuration(val)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fallback
+	}
+	return d
+}
+
 func fileSHA256(path string) (string, error) {
 	f, err := os.Open(path)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 1e27c43..0f57b1d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -12,9 +12,11 @@ services:
       - PORT=${PORT:-8080}
       - GEOIP_DB_PATH=${GEOIP_DB_PATH:-/data/GeoLite2-City.mmdb}
       - GEOIP_BACKEND=${GEOIP_BACKEND:-mmdb}
+      - GEOIP_LOADER_TIMEOUT=${GEOIP_LOADER_TIMEOUT:-30m}
       - DATABASE_URL=postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST:-db}:${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}/${POSTGRES_DB}?sslmode=disable
     command: >
       sh -c '
+        set -e;
         if [ "${GEOIP_BACKEND}" = "postgres" ]; then
           echo "[api] running geoip-loader before api start";
           geoip-loader;