diff --git a/launcher/src/main.rs b/launcher/src/main.rs
index 51131f42..30abe88a 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main.rs
+++ b/launcher/src/main.rs
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Read};
 use std::path::Path;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicBool, Ordering};
 use std::sync::mpsc::TryRecvError;
-use std::sync::Arc;
-use std::sync::{mpsc, Mutex};
+use std::sync::{mpsc, Arc};
 use std::thread;
 use std::thread::sleep;
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
@@ -274,7 +273,7 @@ struct Args {
 #[derive(Debug)]
 enum ShardStatus {
     Ready,
-    Failed((usize, String)),
+    Failed((usize, Option<String>)),
 }
 
 #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
@@ -296,7 +295,7 @@ fn shard_manager(
     watermark_delta: Option<f32>,
     otlp_endpoint: Option<String>,
     status_sender: mpsc::Sender<ShardStatus>,
-    shutdown: Arc<Mutex<bool>>,
+    shutdown: Arc<AtomicBool>,
     _shutdown_sender: mpsc::Sender<()>,
 ) {
     // Get UDS path
@@ -433,20 +432,20 @@ fn shard_manager(
                 }
             }
             status_sender
-                .send(ShardStatus::Failed((rank, err.to_string())))
+                .send(ShardStatus::Failed((rank, Some(err.to_string()))))
                 .unwrap();
             return;
         }
     };
 
     // Redirect STDOUT to the console
-    let shard_stdout = p.stdout.take().unwrap();
+    let shard_stdout_reader = BufReader::new(p.stdout.take().unwrap());
+    let mut shard_stderr_reader = BufReader::new(p.stderr.take().unwrap());
 
     thread::spawn(move || {
         // Enter shard-manager tracing span
-        let stdout = BufReader::new(shard_stdout);
         let _span = tracing::span!(tracing::Level::INFO, "shard-manager", rank = rank).entered();
-        for line in stdout.lines() {
+        for line in shard_stdout_reader.lines() {
             // Parse loguru logs
             if let Ok(log) = serde_json::from_str::<PythonLogMessage>(&line.unwrap()) {
                 log.trace();
@@ -460,8 +459,22 @@ fn shard_manager(
     loop {
         // Process exited
         if let Some(exit_status) = p.poll() {
-            let mut err = String::new();
-            p.stderr.take().unwrap().read_to_string(&mut err).unwrap();
+            // We read stderr in another thread as it seems that `read_to_string` can block
+            // indefinitely in some cases
+            let (err_sender, err_receiver) = mpsc::channel();
+            thread::spawn(move || {
+                let mut err = String::new();
+                shard_stderr_reader.read_to_string(&mut err).unwrap();
+                err_sender.send(err).unwrap_or(());
+            });
+
+            let err = err_receiver
+                .recv_timeout(Duration::from_millis(100))
+                .map_err(|err| {
+                    tracing::error!("Unable to read shard {rank} error from stderr");
+                    err
+                })
+                .ok();
 
             if let ExitStatus::Signaled(signal) = exit_status {
                 tracing::error!("Shard process was signaled to shutdown with signal {signal}");
@@ -474,7 +487,7 @@ fn shard_manager(
         }
 
         // We received a shutdown signal
-        if *shutdown.lock().unwrap() {
+        if shutdown.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
             p.kill().unwrap();
             let _ = p.wait_timeout(Duration::from_secs(90));
             tracing::info!("Shard {rank} terminated");
@@ -494,14 +507,11 @@ fn shard_manager(
     }
 }
 
-fn shutdown_shards(shutdown: Arc<Mutex<bool>>, shutdown_receiver: &mpsc::Receiver<()>) {
+fn shutdown_shards(shutdown: Arc<AtomicBool>, shutdown_receiver: &mpsc::Receiver<()>) {
     tracing::info!("Shutting down shards");
     // Update shutdown value to true
     // This will be picked up by the shard manager
-    {
-        let mut shutdown = shutdown.lock().unwrap();
-        *shutdown = true;
-    }
+    shutdown.store(true, Ordering::SeqCst);
 
     // Wait for shards to shutdown
     // This will block till all shutdown_sender are dropped
@@ -743,7 +753,7 @@ fn download_convert_model(args: &Args, running: Arc<AtomicBool>) -> Result<(), L
 fn spawn_shards(
     num_shard: usize,
     args: &Args,
-    shutdown: Arc<Mutex<bool>>,
+    shutdown: Arc<AtomicBool>,
     shutdown_receiver: &mpsc::Receiver<()>,
     shutdown_sender: mpsc::Sender<()>,
     status_receiver: &mpsc::Receiver<ShardStatus>,
@@ -819,7 +829,10 @@ fn spawn_shards(
                 sleep(Duration::from_millis(100));
             }
             Ok(ShardStatus::Failed((rank, err))) => {
-                tracing::error!("Shard {} failed to start:\n{}", rank, err);
+                tracing::error!("Shard {rank} failed to start");
+                if let Some(err) = err {
+                    tracing::error!("{err}");
+                }
                 shutdown_shards(shutdown, shutdown_receiver);
                 return Err(LauncherError::ShardCannotStart);
             }
@@ -835,7 +848,7 @@ fn spawn_shards(
 
 fn spawn_webserver(
     args: Args,
-    shutdown: Arc<Mutex<bool>>,
+    shutdown: Arc<AtomicBool>,
     shutdown_receiver: &mpsc::Receiver<()>,
 ) -> Result<Popen, LauncherError> {
     // All shard started
@@ -1002,7 +1015,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), LauncherError> {
     download_convert_model(&args, running.clone())?;
 
     // Shared shutdown bool
-    let shutdown = Arc::new(Mutex::new(false));
+    let shutdown = Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false));
     // Shared shutdown channel
     // When shutting down, the main thread will wait for all senders to be dropped
     let (shutdown_sender, shutdown_receiver) = mpsc::channel();
@@ -1034,7 +1047,10 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), LauncherError> {
 
     while running.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
         if let Ok(ShardStatus::Failed((rank, err))) = status_receiver.try_recv() {
-            tracing::error!("Shard {rank} failed:\n{err}");
+            tracing::error!("Shard {rank} failed to start");
+            if let Some(err) = err {
+                tracing::error!("{err}");
+            }
             exit_code = Err(LauncherError::ShardFailed);
             break;
         };