Rooster’s Brewing Company put out a call for people to help label cans of beer by hand after new equipment got stuck on the Ever Given cargo ship in the Suez Canal.

The giant container ship, the size of four football pitches, blocked the busy trade route for a number of days last month.

It is now impounded in Egypt along with all of the cargo on it, including a new labelling machine for the Harrogate brewer that was due to arrive earlier this month.

Oliver Fozard, Rooster’s head brewer, wrote on Twitter: It turns out our new, in-line can labeller was on the Ever Given, which is still seized in Egypt.

“Is anyone on hand for a few days work, helping us to get through a backlog of labelling cans?”

The automatic labelling machine for the canning line was due to arrive in mid-April but is marooned about 3,600 miles away.

Their existing machine is manually operated and the brewery now needs help to clear the backlog.

Ian Fozzard, brewery director, told the BBC: “We are just a bit pushed, looking for people who want a few days work of repetitive manual work.”

The brewery employs about 12 workers, brewing about 1.4m pints in a normal year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

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