diff --git a/src/lib/services/berth-pdf.service.ts b/src/lib/services/berth-pdf.service.ts
index 27e0aa15..7068f673 100644
--- a/src/lib/services/berth-pdf.service.ts
+++ b/src/lib/services/berth-pdf.service.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
 
+import pLimit from 'p-limit';
 import { and, desc, eq, isNull, max, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
 
 import { db } from '@/lib/db';
@@ -568,16 +569,21 @@ export async function listBerthPdfVersions(
     .orderBy(desc(berthPdfVersions.versionNumber));
 
   const backend = await getStorageBackend();
-  // Presign in parallel — for an S3 backend each call is a separate HTTP
-  // round-trip, so a 20-version berth used to take 20× the latency in
-  // the sequential loop. Promise.all collapses to ~1× round-trip.
+  // Presign with bounded concurrency — for an S3 backend each call is
+  // a separate HTTP round-trip. 8 in flight at once keeps the latency
+  // close to ~1× round-trip on typical 5-15-version berths while
+  // preventing a 100-version pathological case from saturating the
+  // S3 client's keep-alive pool.
+  const presignLimit = pLimit(8);
   const presigned = await Promise.all(
     rows.map((row) =>
-      backend.presignDownload(row.storageKey, {
-        expirySeconds: 900,
-        filename: row.fileName,
-        contentType: 'application/pdf',
-      }),
+      presignLimit(() =>
+        backend.presignDownload(row.storageKey, {
+          expirySeconds: 900,
+          filename: row.fileName,
+          contentType: 'application/pdf',
+        }),
+      ),
     ),
   );
 
diff --git a/src/lib/services/custom-fields.service.ts b/src/lib/services/custom-fields.service.ts
index 1cd21b3f..e19b8e98 100644
--- a/src/lib/services/custom-fields.service.ts
+++ b/src/lib/services/custom-fields.service.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import pLimit from 'p-limit';
 import { and, eq, count } from 'drizzle-orm';
 
 import { db } from '@/lib/db';
@@ -323,27 +324,33 @@ export async function setValues(
     }
   }
 
-  // Upsert all values
+  // Upsert all values with bounded concurrency. Custom-field sets are
+  // typically 5-15 fields, but a port admin could stack 50+ definitions
+  // on a single client. Cap at 8 in flight so the pg pool isn't swamped
+  // on a bulk-update fan-out.
+  const upsertLimit = pLimit(8);
   const results = await Promise.all(
-    values.map(async ({ fieldId, value }) => {
-      const [upserted] = await db
-        .insert(customFieldValues)
-        .values({
-          fieldId,
-          entityId,
-          value: value as Record<string, unknown>,
-          updatedAt: new Date(),
-        })
-        .onConflictDoUpdate({
-          target: [customFieldValues.fieldId, customFieldValues.entityId],
-          set: {
+    values.map(({ fieldId, value }) =>
+      upsertLimit(async () => {
+        const [upserted] = await db
+          .insert(customFieldValues)
+          .values({
+            fieldId,
+            entityId,
             value: value as Record<string, unknown>,
             updatedAt: new Date(),
-          },
-        })
-        .returning();
-      return upserted;
-    }),
+          })
+          .onConflictDoUpdate({
+            target: [customFieldValues.fieldId, customFieldValues.entityId],
+            set: {
+              value: value as Record<string, unknown>,
+              updatedAt: new Date(),
+            },
+          })
+          .returning();
+        return upserted;
+      }),
+    ),
   );
 
   void createAuditLog({
diff --git a/src/lib/services/notifications.service.ts b/src/lib/services/notifications.service.ts
index 2d1c5bd8..95e75172 100644
--- a/src/lib/services/notifications.service.ts
+++ b/src/lib/services/notifications.service.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import pLimit from 'p-limit';
 import { and, count, eq, gt, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
 
 import { db } from '@/lib/db';
@@ -341,19 +342,26 @@ export async function notifyDocumentEvent(
   const title = DOCUMENT_EVENT_TITLES[eventType];
   const notifType = DOCUMENT_EVENT_NOTIF_TYPES[eventType];
 
+  // Cap the user fan-out — a document with many watchers (rare but
+  // possible on hot pipeline items) would otherwise issue an unbounded
+  // burst of notification inserts + socket emits. 8 in flight keeps
+  // peak DB writes bounded and emits steady on the socket bus.
+  const notifyLimit = pLimit(8);
   await Promise.all(
     Array.from(recipientIds).map((userId) =>
-      createNotification({
-        portId: doc.portId,
-        userId,
-        type: notifType,
-        title,
-        description: `"${doc.title}"`,
-        link: `/documents/${doc.id}`,
-        entityType: 'document',
-        entityId: doc.id,
-        dedupeKey: `document:${doc.id}:${eventType}`,
-      }),
+      notifyLimit(() =>
+        createNotification({
+          portId: doc.portId,
+          userId,
+          type: notifType,
+          title,
+          description: `"${doc.title}"`,
+          link: `/documents/${doc.id}`,
+          entityType: 'document',
+          entityId: doc.id,
+          dedupeKey: `document:${doc.id}:${eventType}`,
+        }),
+      ),
     ),
   );
 }