diff --git a/js/server/modules/@arangodb/cluster.js b/js/server/modules/@arangodb/cluster.js
index 58f2f5d39f..0f140196a6 100644
--- a/js/server/modules/@arangodb/cluster.js
+++ b/js/server/modules/@arangodb/cluster.js
@@ -857,37 +857,52 @@ function cleanupCurrentCollections (plannedCollections, currentCollections,
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-/// @brief synchronize collections for which we are followers (synchronously
-/// replicated shards)
+/// @brief synchronize one shard, this is run as a V8 task
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 function synchronizeOneShard(database, shard, planId, leader) {
   // synchronize this shard from the leader
   // this function will throw if anything goes wrong
 
+  var ok = false;
   const rep = require("@arangodb/replication");
 
-  console.info("trying to synchronize local shard '%s/%s' for central '%s/%s'",
-               database,
-               shard,
-               database,
-               planId);
+  console.info("synchronizeOneShard: trying to synchronize local shard '%s/%s' for central '%s/%s'",
+               database, shard, database, planId);
   try {
     var ep = ArangoClusterInfo.getServerEndpoint(leader);
     // First once without a read transaction:
-    var sy = rep.syncCollection(shard, 
-        { endpoint: ep, incremental: true,
-          keepBarrier: true });
+    var sy;
+    var count = 60;
+    while (true) {
+      try {
+        sy = rep.syncCollection(shard, 
+            { endpoint: ep, incremental: true,
+              keepBarrier: true });
+        break;
+      }
+      catch (err) {
+        console.debug("synchronizeOneShard: syncCollection did not work,",
+                      "trying again later for shard", shard);
+      }
+      if (--count <= 0) {
+        console.error("synchronizeOneShard: syncCollection did not work",
+                      "after many tries, giving up on shard", shard);
+        throw "syncCollection did not work";
+      }
+      wait(5);
+    }
+
     if (sy.error) {
-      console.error("Could not initially synchronize shard ", shard, sy);
-      throw "Initial sync failed";
+      console.error("synchronizeOneShard: could not initially synchronize",
+                    "shard ", shard, sy);
+      throw "Initial sync for shard " + shard + " failed";
     } else {
       if (sy.collections.length === 0 ||
           sy.collections[0].name !== shard) {
         cancelBarrier(ep, database, sy.barrierId);
-        throw "Shard seems to be gone from leader!";
+        throw "Shard " + shard + " seems to be gone from leader!";
       } else {
-        var ok = false;
         // Now start a read transaction to stop writes:
         var lockJobId = false;
         try {
@@ -896,7 +911,7 @@ function synchronizeOneShard(database, shard, planId, leader) {
           console.debug("lockJobId:", lockJobId);
         }
         catch (err1) {
-          console.error("Exception in startReadLockOnLeader:", err1);
+          console.error("synchronizeOneShard: exception in startReadLockOnLeader:", err1);
         }
         finally {
           cancelBarrier(ep, database, sy.barrierId);
@@ -907,30 +922,35 @@ function synchronizeOneShard(database, shard, planId, leader) {
               database, shard, sy.collections[0].id, 
               sy.lastLogTick, { endpoint: ep });
             if (sy2.error) {
-              console.error("Could not synchronize shard", shard,
-                            sy2);
+              console.error("synchronizeOneShard: Could not synchronize shard",
+                            shard, sy2);
               ok = false;
             } else {
               ok = addShardFollower(ep, database, shard);
             }
           }
           catch (err3) {
-            console.error("Exception in syncCollectionFinalize:", err3);
+            console.error("synchronizeOneshard: exception in",
+                          "syncCollectionFinalize:", err3);
           }
           finally {
             if (!cancelReadLockOnLeader(ep, database, 
                                         lockJobId)) {
-              console.error("Read lock has timed out for shard", shard);
+              console.error("synchronizeOneShard: read lock has timed out",
+                            "for shard", shard);
               ok = false;
             }
           }
         } else {
-          console.error("lockJobId was false");
+          console.error("synchronizeOneShard: lockJobId was false for shard",
+                        shard);
         }
         if (ok) {
-          console.info("Synchronization worked for shard", shard);
+          console.info("synchronizeOneShard: synchronization worked for shard",
+                       shard);
         } else {
-          throw "Did not work.";  // just to log below in catch
+          throw "Did not work for shard " + shard + ".";  
+          // just to log below in catch
         }
       }
     }
@@ -939,8 +959,68 @@ function synchronizeOneShard(database, shard, planId, leader) {
     console.error("synchronization of local shard '%s/%s' for central '%s/%s' failed: %s",
                   database, shard, database, planId, JSON.stringify(err2));
   }
+  // Tell others that we are done:
+  try {
+    var jobInfo = global.KEY_GET("shardSynchronization", shard);
+    jobInfo.completed = ok;
+    global.KEY_SET("shardSynchronization", shard, jobInfo);
+  }
+  catch (e) {
+  }
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief schedule a shard synchronization
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+function scheduleOneShardSynchronization(database, shard, planId, leader) {
+  const registerTask = require("internal").registerTask;
+  console.debug("scheduleOneShardSynchronization:", database, shard, planId,
+                leader);
+  var scheduledJobs;
+  try {
+    scheduledJobs = global.KEYSPACE_GET("shardSynchronization");
+  }
+  catch (e) {
+    global.KEYSPACE_CREATE("shardSynchronization");
+    scheduledJobs = {};
+  }
+
+  var jobInfo;
+  if (scheduledJobs.hasOwnProperty(shard)) {
+    jobInfo = scheduledJobs[shard];
+    if (jobInfo.completed === undefined) {
+      console.debug("old task still running, ignoring scheduling request");
+      return;
+    }
+    global.KEY_REMOVE("shardSynchronization", shard);
+    if (jobInfo.completed) {  // success!
+      console.debug("old task just finished successfully,",
+                   "ignoring scheduling request");
+      return;
+    }
+    console.debug("old task finished unsuccessfully, scheduling a new one");
+  }
+
+  // If we reach this, we actually have to schedule a new task:
+  jobInfo = { database, shard, planId, leader };
+  var job = registerTask({
+    database: database,
+    params: {database, shard, planId, leader},
+    command: function(params) {
+      require("@arangodb/cluster").synchronizeOneShard(
+        params.database, params.shard, params.planId, params.leader);
+    }});
+  console.debug("scheduleOneShardSynchronization: job:", job);
+  global.KEY_SET("shardSynchronization", shard, jobInfo);
+  console.debug("scheduleOneShardSynchronization: have scheduled job", jobInfo);
+}
+
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+/// @brief synchronize collections for which we are followers (synchronously
+/// replicated shards)
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
 function synchronizeLocalFollowerCollections (plannedCollections,
                                               currentCollections) {
   var ourselves = global.ArangoServerState.id();
@@ -989,8 +1069,9 @@ function synchronizeLocalFollowerCollections (plannedCollections,
                                     "come back later to this shard...");
                     } else {
                       if (inCurrent.servers.indexOf(ourselves) === -1) {
-                        synchronizeOneShard(database, shard, collInfo.planId,
-                                            inCurrent.servers[0]);
+                        scheduleOneShardSynchronization(
+                            database, shard, collInfo.planId,
+                            inCurrent.servers[0]);
                       }
                     }
                   }
@@ -1472,4 +1553,4 @@ exports.shardList                     = shardList;
 exports.status                        = status;
 exports.wait                          = waitForDistributedResponse;
 exports.endpointToURL                 = endpointToURL;
-
+exports.synchronizeOneShard           = synchronizeOneShard;