diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/CPipe.scala b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/CPipe.scala
index ac3d654..d2eb413 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/CPipe.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/CPipe.scala
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 package org.splink.cpipe
 
-import org.splink.cpipe.processors.{Exporter, Exporter2, Importer}
-import org.splink.cpipe.config.{Config, Arguments}
+import org.splink.cpipe.processors.{Exporter, Exporter2, Importer, Importer2}
+import org.splink.cpipe.config.{Arguments, Config}
+
 import scala.language.implicitConversions
 import scala.util.{Failure, Success, Try}
 
@@ -23,11 +24,13 @@ object CPipe {
         config.mode match {
           case "import" =>
             new Importer().process(session, config)
+          case "import2" =>
+            new Importer2().process(session, config)
           case "export" =>
-              new Exporter().process(session, config)
+              new Exporter().process(session, exportConfig(config))
           case "export2" =>
             if (session.getCluster.getMetadata.getPartitioner == "org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner") {
-              new Exporter2().process(session, config)
+              new Exporter2().process(session, exportConfig(config))
             } else {
               Output.log("mode 'export2' requires the cluster to use 'Murmur3Partitioner'")
             }
@@ -62,6 +65,16 @@ object CPipe {
     conf.flags.useCompression)
 
 
+  def exportConfig(config: Config): Config = {
+    if (config.settings.threads != 1) {
+      Output.log("Export is limited to 1 thread")
+      config.copy(settings = config.settings.copy(threads = 1))
+    } else {
+      config
+    }
+  }
+
+
   object ElapsedSecondFormat {
     def zero(i: Long) = if (i < 10) s"0$i" else s"$i"
 
diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/JsonColumnParser.scala b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/JsonColumnParser.scala
index 2841718..8820f27 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/JsonColumnParser.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/JsonColumnParser.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package org.splink.cpipe
 
-import com.datastax.driver.core.{DataType, Row}
+import java.lang.{Boolean, Double, Short}
+import java.util.Date
+
+import com.datastax.driver.core.{BatchStatement, DataType, PreparedStatement, Row, Session}
 import play.api.libs.json._
 
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
@@ -8,27 +11,47 @@ import scala.util.{Failure, Success, Try}
 
 object JsonColumnParser {
 
-  case class Column(name: String, value: String, typ: DataType)
+  case class Column(name: String, value: Object, typ: DataType)
+
+  // SimpleDateFormat is not thread safe
+  private val tlDateFormat = new ThreadLocal[java.text.SimpleDateFormat]
+
+  private def dateFormat = {
+    if (tlDateFormat.get() == null) {
+      tlDateFormat.set(new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'"))
+    }
+    tlDateFormat.get()
+  }
 
   def column2Json(column: Column) = {
-    val sanitized = stripControlChars(column.value)
-    Try(Json.parse(sanitized)) match {
-      case Success(json) =>
-        val r = json match {
-          case o: JsObject => o
-          case _ => parseCassandraDataType(sanitized, column.typ)
+      val value = column.value
+
+      if (value == null) {
+        Some(JsObject(Map(column.name -> JsNull)))
+      } else {
+        val sanitized: String = value match {
+          case date: Date => dateFormat.format(date)
+          case _ => stripControlChars(value.toString)
         }
 
-        Some(JsObject(Map(column.name -> r)))
+        Try(Json.parse(sanitized)) match {
+          case Success(json) =>
+            val r = json match {
+              case o: JsObject => o
+              case _ => parseCassandraDataType(value, sanitized, column.typ)
+            }
 
-      case Failure(_) =>
-        Some(JsObject(Map(column.name -> parseCassandraDataType(sanitized, column.typ))))
-    }
+            Some(JsObject(Map(column.name -> r)))
+
+          case Failure(_) =>
+            Some(JsObject(Map(column.name -> parseCassandraDataType(value, sanitized, column.typ))))
+        }
+      }
   }
 
   def row2Json(row: Row) =
     row.getColumnDefinitions.iterator.asScala.flatMap { definition =>
-      Try(row.getObject(definition.getName).toString) match {
+      Try(row.getObject(definition.getName)) match {
         case Success(value) =>
           column2Json {
             Column(definition.getName, value, definition.getType)
@@ -73,6 +96,50 @@ object JsonColumnParser {
   }
 
 
+  def json2PreparedStatement(table: String, json: JsObject, session: Session): PreparedStatement = {
+    val str = s"INSERT INTO $table ( ${json.fields.map(_._1).mkString(", ")} ) VALUES ( ${json.fields.map(_ => "?").mkString(", ")} );"
+    session.prepare(str)
+  }
+
+  def getStringToObjectMappingForTable(session: Session, table: String): Map[String, String => Object] = {
+    val queryResult = session.execute(s"select * from $table limit 1")
+    queryResult.getColumnDefinitions.asScala.map {
+      definition => definition.getName -> getStringToObjectConversionMethod(definition.getType)
+    }.toMap
+  }
+
+  def getStringToObjectConversionMethod(dataType: DataType): String => Object = (s: String) => {
+      dataType.getName match {
+        case DataType.Name.DATE => nullOr(dateFormat.parse)(s)
+        case DataType.Name.TIMESTAMP => nullOr(dateFormat.parse)(s)
+        case DataType.Name.DOUBLE => nullOr{x: String => new Double(x.toDouble)}(s)
+        case DataType.Name.INT => nullOr{x: String => new Integer(x.toInt)}(s)
+        case DataType.Name.VARCHAR => nullOr(identity)(s)
+        case DataType.Name.BOOLEAN =>nullOr{x:String => new Boolean(x == "true")}(s)
+        case DataType.Name.SMALLINT => nullOr{x:String => new Short(x.toShort)}
+        case _ => throw new IllegalArgumentException(s"Please add a mapping for the '${dataType.getName}' type")
+    }
+  }
+
+  def jsValueToScalaObject(name: String, jsValue: JsValue, objectMapping: Map[String, String => Object]) : Object = {
+    val v = jsValue.toString.stripPrefix("\"").stripSuffix("\"")
+    objectMapping.get(name).getOrElse(throw new IllegalArgumentException(s"$name was not found in the map $objectMapping"))(v)
+  }
+
+  def addJsonToBatch(json: JsObject, preparedStatement: PreparedStatement, batch: BatchStatement, objectMapping: Map[String, String => Object]): Unit = {
+    val values = json.fields.map { v => jsValueToScalaObject(v._1, v._2, objectMapping) }
+    batch.add(preparedStatement.bind(values : _*))
+  }
+
+  def nullOr(parser: String => Object): String => Object =  (s: String) => {
+    if (s.equals("null")) {
+      null
+    } else {
+      parser(s)
+    }
+  }
+
+
   import java.util.regex.Pattern
 
   val pattern = Pattern.compile("[\\u0000-\\u001f]")
@@ -80,32 +147,36 @@ object JsonColumnParser {
   def stripControlChars(s: String) =
     pattern.matcher(s).replaceAll("")
 
-  def parseCassandraDataType(a: String, dt: DataType) =
-    dt.getName match {
-      case DataType.Name.ASCII => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.BLOB => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.DATE => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.INET => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.TEXT => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.TIME => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.TIMESTAMP => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.TIMEUUID => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.UUID => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.VARCHAR => JsString(a)
-      case DataType.Name.BOOLEAN => JsBoolean(a == "true")
-      case DataType.Name.BIGINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.DECIMAL => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.DOUBLE => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.FLOAT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.INT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.SMALLINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.TINYINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.VARINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
-      case DataType.Name.LIST => Json.parse(a)
-      case DataType.Name.MAP => Json.parse(a)
-      case DataType.Name.SET => Json.parse(a)
-      case DataType.Name.TUPLE => Json.parse(a)
-      case DataType.Name.UDT => Json.parse(a)
-      case _ => Json.parse(a)
-    }
+  def parseCassandraDataType(v: Object, a: String, dt: DataType) = {
+      dt.getName match {
+        case DataType.Name.ASCII => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.BLOB => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.DATE => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.INET => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.TEXT => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.TIME => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.TIMESTAMP => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.TIMEUUID => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.UUID => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.VARCHAR => JsString(a)
+        case DataType.Name.BOOLEAN => JsBoolean(a == "true")
+        case DataType.Name.BIGINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.DECIMAL => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.DOUBLE => v match {
+          case d: Double if Double.isNaN(d) => JsNull
+          case _ => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        }
+        case DataType.Name.FLOAT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.INT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.SMALLINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.TINYINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.VARINT => JsNumber(BigDecimal(a))
+        case DataType.Name.LIST => Json.parse(a)
+        case DataType.Name.MAP => Json.parse(a)
+        case DataType.Name.SET => Json.parse(a)
+        case DataType.Name.TUPLE => Json.parse(a)
+        case DataType.Name.UDT => Json.parse(a)
+        case _ => Json.parse(a)
+      }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Arguments.scala b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Arguments.scala
index ce94919..7e82f15 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Arguments.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Arguments.scala
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ class Arguments(arguments: Seq[String]) extends ScallopConf(arguments) {
   val fetchSize = opt[Int](default = Some(5000),
     descr = "The amount of rows which is retrieved simultaneously. Defaults to 5000.")
 
+  val batchSize = opt[Int](default = Some(500),
+    descr = "The amount of rows which is saved simultaneously when using mode import2. Defaults to 500.")
+
   val threads = opt[Int](default = Some(32),
     descr = "The amount of parallelism used in export2 mode. Defaults to 32 parallel requests.")
 
@@ -65,8 +68,9 @@ class Arguments(arguments: Seq[String]) extends ScallopConf(arguments) {
   val compression = choice(Seq("ON", "OFF"), default = Some("ON"),
     descr = "Use LZ4 compression and trade reduced network traffic for CPU cycles. Defaults to ON")
 
-  val mode = choice(choices = Seq("import", "export", "export2"), required = true,
+  val mode = choice(choices = Seq("import", "import2", "export", "export2"), required = true,
     descr = "Select the mode. Choose mode 'import' to import data. " +
+      "Choose mode 'import2' to import data with a prepared statement (faster, but only for tables with fixed columns); " +
       "Choose mode 'export' to export data (optional with a filter); " +
       "Choose mode 'export2' to export data using token ranges to increase performance and reduce load on the cluster. " +
       "'export2' mode cannot be combined with a filter and it requires that the cluster uses Murmur3Partitioner. " +
@@ -79,4 +83,4 @@ class Arguments(arguments: Seq[String]) extends ScallopConf(arguments) {
   }
 
   verify()
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Config.scala b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Config.scala
index 9778b66..df99f37 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Config.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/config/Config.scala
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ case object Config {
       verbose <- args.verbose.toOption
       threads <- args.threads.toOption
       fetchSize <- args.fetchSize.toOption
+      batchSize <- args.batchSize.toOption
       useCompression <- args.compression.toOption.map {
         case c if c == "ON" => true
         case _ => false
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ case object Config {
         Selection(keyspace, table, filter),
         Credentials(username, password),
         Flags(!beQuiet, useCompression, verbose),
-        Settings(fetchSize, consistencyLevel, threads))
+        Settings(fetchSize, batchSize, consistencyLevel, threads))
     }
 }
 
@@ -54,4 +55,4 @@ final case class Credentials(username: String, password: String)
 
 final case class Flags(showProgress: Boolean, useCompression: Boolean, verbose: Boolean)
 
-final case class Settings(fetchSize: Int, consistencyLevel: ConsistencyLevel, threads: Int)
+final case class Settings(fetchSize: Int, batchSize: Int, consistencyLevel: ConsistencyLevel, threads: Int)
diff --git a/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/processors/Importer2.scala b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/processors/Importer2.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7695188
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/scala/org/splink/cpipe/processors/Importer2.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package org.splink.cpipe.processors
+
+import com.datastax.driver.core.{BatchStatement, PreparedStatement, Session}
+import org.splink.cpipe.config.Config
+import org.splink.cpipe.{JsonFrame, Output, Rps}
+
+import scala.io.Source
+
+class Importer2 extends Processor {
+
+  import org.splink.cpipe.JsonColumnParser._
+
+  val rps = new Rps()
+
+  override def process(session: Session, config: Config): Int = {
+    val frame = new JsonFrame()
+    var statement: PreparedStatement = null
+    val dataTypeMapping = getStringToObjectMappingForTable(session, config.selection.table)
+
+    Source.stdin.getLines().flatMap { line =>
+      frame.push(line.toCharArray)
+    }.grouped(config.settings.batchSize).foreach { group =>
+      val batch = new BatchStatement
+      group.foreach { str =>
+        string2Json(str).foreach { json =>
+          if (statement == null) {
+            statement = json2PreparedStatement(config.selection.table, json, session)
+          }
+          addJsonToBatch(json, statement, batch, dataTypeMapping)
+          rps.compute()
+        }
+      }
+      if (config.flags.showProgress) Output.update(s"${rps.count} rows at $rps rows/sec.")
+      session.execute(batch)
+    }
+    rps.count
+  }
+}