diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f8ebf60ca136..c2392b7a122d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ GOVULNCHECK_VER := v1.1.4
 GOVULNCHECK := $(abspath $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/$(GOVULNCHECK_BIN)-$(GOVULNCHECK_VER))
 GOVULNCHECK_PKG := golang.org/x/vuln/cmd/govulncheck
 
+CRANE_BIN := crane
+CRANE_VER := v0.20.7
+CRANE := $(abspath $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/$(CRANE_BIN)-$(CRANE_VER))
+CRANE_PKG := github.com/google/go-containerregistry/cmd/crane
+
 IMPORT_BOSS_BIN := import-boss
 IMPORT_BOSS_VER := v0.28.1
 IMPORT_BOSS := $(abspath $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/$(IMPORT_BOSS_BIN))
@@ -1449,6 +1454,9 @@ $(GOLANGCI_LINT_BIN): $(GOLANGCI_LINT) ## Build a local copy of golangci-lint.
 .PHONY: $(GOVULNCHECK_BIN)
 $(GOVULNCHECK_BIN): $(GOVULNCHECK) ## Build a local copy of govulncheck.
 
+.PHONY: $(CRANE_BIN)
+$(CRANE_BIN): $(CRANE) ## Build a local copy of crane.
+
 .PHONY: $(IMPORT_BOSS_BIN)
 $(IMPORT_BOSS_BIN): $(IMPORT_BOSS)
 
@@ -1513,6 +1521,9 @@ $(GOLANGCI_LINT_270):
 $(GOVULNCHECK): # Build govulncheck.
 	GOBIN=$(TOOLS_BIN_DIR) $(GO_INSTALL) $(GOVULNCHECK_PKG) $(GOVULNCHECK_BIN) $(GOVULNCHECK_VER)
 
+$(CRANE): # Build crane.
+	GOBIN=$(TOOLS_BIN_DIR) $(GO_INSTALL) $(CRANE_PKG) $(CRANE_BIN) $(CRANE_VER)
+
 $(IMPORT_BOSS): # Build import-boss
 	GOBIN=$(TOOLS_BIN_DIR) $(GO_INSTALL) $(IMPORT_BOSS_PKG) $(IMPORT_BOSS_BIN) $(IMPORT_BOSS_VER)
 
diff --git a/scripts/ci-e2e-lib.sh b/scripts/ci-e2e-lib.sh
index c2e7974991a9..0f707a846758 100644
--- a/scripts/ci-e2e-lib.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-e2e-lib.sh
@@ -268,14 +268,29 @@ kind:prepullAdditionalImages () {
 
 # kind:prepullImage pre-pull a docker image if no already present locally.
 # The result will be available in the retVal value which is accessible from the caller.
+# This uses crane to pull images instead of docker pull because loading images otherwise fails beginning with docker 29.
+# - related kind issue: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kind/issues/3795#issuecomment-3276124207
+# - related containerd issue: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/11344
 kind::prepullImage () {
+  make crane
+
   local image=$1
   image="${image//+/_}"
 
   retVal=0
   if [[ "$(docker images -q "$image" 2> /dev/null)" == "" ]]; then
+    TMPFILE="$(mktemp)"
+  
     echo "+ Pulling $image"
-    docker pull "$image" || retVal=$?
+
+    crane pull "$image" "${TMPFILE}" || retVal=$?
+    if [[ $retVal -gt 0 ]]; then
+      return
+    fi
+
+    docker load -i "${TMPFILE}" || retVal=$?
+
+    rm "${TMPFILE}"
   else
     echo "+ image $image already present in the system, skipping pre-pull"
   fi