diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
index 23341a07..88dd9160 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import javax.xml.soap.Node;
 import javax.xml.soap.SOAPElement;
 import javax.xml.soap.Text;
 
-import org.springframework.xml.sax.AbstractXmlReader;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
@@ -30,6 +29,9 @@ import org.xml.sax.SAXNotRecognizedException;
 import org.xml.sax.SAXNotSupportedException;
 import org.xml.sax.helpers.AttributesImpl;
 
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+import org.springframework.xml.sax.AbstractXmlReader;
+
 /**
  * SAX <code>XMLReader</code> that reads from a SAAJ <code>Node</code>. Consumes <code>XMLEvents</code> from an
  * <code>XMLEventReader</code>, and calls the corresponding methods on the SAX callback interfaces.
@@ -176,9 +178,17 @@ public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
             for (Iterator iterator = element.getNamespacePrefixes(); iterator.hasNext();) {
                 String prefix = (String) iterator.next();
                 String namespaceUri = element.getNamespaceURI(prefix);
-                attributes.addAttribute("", "", "xmlns:" + prefix, "CDATA", namespaceUri);
+                String qName;
+                if (StringUtils.hasLength(prefix)) {
+                    qName = "xmlns:" + prefix;
+                }
+                else {
+                    qName = "xmlns";
+                }
+                attributes.addAttribute("", "", qName, "CDATA", namespaceUri);
             }
         }
+
         return attributes;
     }