SAN DIEGO—The marine insurance industry faces a difficult year, with continued soft pricing for ocean hull insurance rates, according to speakers at the annual International Union of Marine Insurance conference, being held this week in San Diego.

No nation is isolated or immune from the global economy, and the marine insurance business model is “out of touch,” IUMI President Ole Wikborg said at a conference session.

“Marine insurance is facing a pretty bleak presence,” Mr. Wikborg said at the conference, where this year's theme is “Marine Insurance — Charting the Course Through Economic Uncertainty.” Mr. Wikborg is the director of the Norwegian Hull Club in Oslo.

“We seem unable to adapt to the current business environment,” he said, adding that the marine insurance industry is out of touch with the needs of its clients, past experiences are not taken into account, and regulators are showing a lack of understanding.

Marine insurance premium increased 7% in 2011 from 2010 to $31.9 billion, said Astrid Seltmann, an analyst and actuary at Cefor, the Norwegian marine insurance association in Oslo, and vice chairwoman of the IUMI's facts and figures committee.

The increase in marine insurance premiums is “a pure volume increase” that reflects an upswing in global trade, she said at the conference.

However, ocean hull insurance premium increased just 1% in 2011 from 2010 to $8.3 billion, Ms. Seltmann said.

“What we can say is that the hull market will record its 16th consecutive pure underwriting loss,” she said. “We have to have a better understanding of all the dependencies between macroeconomic parameters and repair costs.”

Eric Smith, CEO of Swiss Re America Corp. in Armonk, N.Y., said that while technology has revolutionized other businesses, the insurance industry has been left behind.

“Risk is still assessed with low-tech means,” he said, adding that some lines of insurance such as property and auto have successfully leveraged technology to better assess risks.

“Yet in the marine sector, underwriting is less about ones and zeros,” Mr. Smith said.