Look, I get it. Mark Knopfler the lyricist cannot compare, bell-curve-wise, to Mark Knopfler the guitarist.
Mark Knopfler the lyricist still has some absolutely top-tier shit that is very much in my wheelhouse. This song is a marvel of tone and of pulling emotion out of a ship-breaking operation (of all things), using vibrant but efficient imagery, and the song suits his vocal abilities. He was a journalist for a while before Dire Straits hit it big, and it shows. The arrangement and playing both sound excellent to me as well, but I'll defer on that to people with a more sophisticated ear than mine.