diff --git a/arangod/Pregel/Algos/SSSP.cpp b/arangod/Pregel/Algos/SSSP.cpp
index 9582f9b4af..65e3c5324a 100644
--- a/arangod/Pregel/Algos/SSSP.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Pregel/Algos/SSSP.cpp
@@ -47,17 +47,20 @@ struct SSSPComputation : public VertexComputation<int64_t, int64_t, int64_t> {
         int64_t val = *edge->data() + tmp;
         sendMessage(edge, val);
       }
+    } else {
+      voteHalt();
     }
-    voteHalt();
   }
 };
 
 uint32_t SSSPAlgorithm::messageBatchSize(WorkerConfig const& config,
                                          MessageStats const& stats) const {
-  if (config.localSuperstep() <= 2) {
-    return 1;
+  if (config.localSuperstep() <= 1) {
+    return 5;
   } else {
-    return Algorithm::messageBatchSize(config, stats);
+    double msgsPerSec = stats.sendCount / stats.superstepRuntimeSecs;
+    msgsPerSec /= config.parallelism();  // per thread
+    return msgsPerSec > 250.0 ? (uint32_t)msgsPerSec : 250;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/arangod/Pregel/Worker.cpp b/arangod/Pregel/Worker.cpp
index 27aa7c3266..7c35ac9ee2 100644
--- a/arangod/Pregel/Worker.cpp
+++ b/arangod/Pregel/Worker.cpp
@@ -561,7 +561,11 @@ void Worker<V, E, M>::_finishedProcessing() {
 /// in async mode checks if there are messages to process
 template <typename V, typename E, typename M>
 void Worker<V, E, M>::_continueAsync() {
-  if (_state == WorkerState::IDLE && _writeCache->containedMessageCount() > 0) {
+  uint64_t cnt = _writeCache->containedMessageCount();
+  if (_state == WorkerState::IDLE && cnt > 0) {
+    if (cnt < 10) {
+      usleep(10000);
+    }
     {  // swap these pointers atomically
       MY_WRITE_LOCKER(guard, _cacheRWLock);
       std::swap(_readCache, _writeCache);