Sounds like a heck of time for so little records, independent of update technique.
And yes, there are stuff you can do to optimize the code.
But first things first. Locate in the log the step(s) that consumes the most resources, and try to start from there.
What aboit other processing - is this the only job that performs poor? Or coudl it be a system constraint?
Why are you using the Type 1 Loader? I seldom use it. Depending on your requirement you could use a standard Table Loader, or the Type 2 Loader.
Data never sleeps