BUSINESS AND CUSTOMERS:

Unless the context otherwise requires, when used in these consolidated financial statements, the terms "Genesee & Wyoming," "G&W" and the "Company" refer to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. and its subsidiaries.

The Company owns or leases 120 freight railroads worldwide that are organized in 11 operating regions with 7,500 employees and more than 2,800 customers. The financial results of our 11 operating regions are reported in the following three distinct segments:


•	The Company's North American Operations segment includes nine operating regions that serve 41 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. This segment includes 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles.


•	The Company's Australian Operations segment provides rail freight services in South Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. Included in the Australian Operations segement is the 1,400-mile Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail line, which is the sole north-south rail carrier outside the coasts and primarily corridor intermodal and commodity freight.

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The Company's U.K./European Operations segment includes the majority of Freightliner Group Limited (Freightliner), which the Company acquired in March 2015 (see Note 3, Changes in Operations). Freightliner is the United Kingdom's (U.K.) largest rail maritime intermodal operator and the U.K.'s second-largest rail freight company. The Company's U.K./European Operations segment also includes heavy-haul freight operations in Poland and Germany and cross-border intermodal services connecting Northern European seaports with key industrial regions throughout the continent.

The Company's subsidiaries provide rail service at more than 40 major ports in North America, Australia and Europe and perform contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. See Note 3, Changes in Operations, for descriptions of the Company's changes in operations in recent years.

The Company's railroads transport a wide variety of commodities. Revenues from the Company's 10 largest customers accounted for approximately 22%, 24% and 24% of the Company's operating revenues in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

When comparing the Company's results of operations from one reporting period to another, it is important to consider that the Company has historically experienced fluctuations in revenues and expenses due to acquisitions, changing economic conditions, commodity prices, competitive forces, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, rail network congestion, one-time freight moves, fuel price fluctuations, customer plant expansions and shut-downs, sales of property and equipment, derailments and weather-related conditions, such as hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, high winds, droughts, heavy snowfall, unseasonably hot or cold weather, freezing and flooding, among other factors. In periods when these events occur, the Company's results of operations are not easily comparable from one period to another. Finally, certain of the Company's railroads have commodity shipments that are sensitive to general economic conditions, global commodity prices and foreign exchange rates, such as steel products, iron ore, paper products and lumber and forest products and agricultural products, as well as product specific market conditions, such as the availability of lower priced alternative sources of power generation (coal) and energy commodity price differentials (crude oil). Other shipments are relatively less affected by economic conditions and are more closely affected by other factors, such as winter weather (salt) and seasonal rainfall (agricultural products). As a result of these and other factors, the Company's results of operations in any reporting period may not be directly comparable to the Company's results of operations in other reporting periods.