Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
As of March 31, 2020 , we were exposed to market risks associated with interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates.
Interest Rate Risk. As of March 31, 2020 , $112.7 million of our outstanding debt was subject to floating rates. The interest rate applicable to our variable rate debt may continue to rise, thereby increasing our interest expense and related cash outlay. In June 2015, we entered into various interest rate swap contracts to fix the interest rate on a portion of the Nordea Q5000 Loan. These swap contracts, which are settled monthly, began in June 2015 and extend through April 2020. As of March 31, 2020 , the interest rate on $60.3 million of the Nordea Q5000 Loan was hedged. Debt subject to variable rates after considering hedging activities was $52.4 million. The impact of interest rate risk is estimated using a hypothetical increase in interest rates by 100 basis points for our variable rate long-term debt that is not hedged. Based on this hypothetical assumption, we would have incurred an additional $0.1 million in interest expense for the three -month period ended March 31, 2020 .
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk. Because we operate in various regions around the world, we conduct a portion of our business in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. As such, our earnings are impacted by movements in foreign currency exchange rates when (i) transactions are denominated in currencies other than the functional currency of the relevant Helix entity, or (ii) the functional currency of our subsidiaries is not the U.S. dollar. In order to mitigate the effects of exchange rate risk in areas outside the United States, we endeavor to pay a portion of our expenses in local currencies to partially offset revenues that are denominated in the same local currencies. In addition, a substantial portion of our contracts provide for collections from customers in U.S. dollars.
Assets and liabilities of our subsidiaries that do not have the U.S. dollar as their functional currency are translated using the exchange rates in effect at the balance sheet date, resulting in translation adjustments that are reflected in “Accumulated other comprehensive loss” in the shareholders’ equity section of our condensed consolidated balance sheets. For the three -month period ended March 31, 2020 , we recorded foreign currency translation losses of $33.6 million to accumulated other comprehensive loss. Deferred taxes have not been provided on foreign currency translation adjustments since we consider our undistributed earnings (when applicable) of our non-U.S. subsidiaries without operations in the U.S. to be permanently reinvested.
When currencies other than the functional currency are to be paid or received, the resulting transaction gain or loss is recognized in the condensed consolidated statements of operations as a component of “Other income (expense), net.” For the three -month period ended March 31, 2020 , we recognized foreign currency transaction losses of $10.4 million, primarily related to our subsidiaries in the U.K.
In February 2013, we entered into various foreign currency exchange contracts to hedge our foreign currency exposure with respect to the Grand Canyon III charter payments denominated in Norwegian kroner, which were fully settled through February 2020. A portion of these foreign currency exchange contracts qualified for cash flow hedge accounting treatment.
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