diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/dependency/graph/traversal/BuildingDependencyNodeVisitor.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/dependency/graph/traversal/BuildingDependencyNodeVisitor.java
index be69437..9b0c828 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/dependency/graph/traversal/BuildingDependencyNodeVisitor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/shared/dependency/graph/traversal/BuildingDependencyNodeVisitor.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Stack;
 
 import org.apache.maven.shared.dependency.graph.DependencyNode;
@@ -82,10 +83,11 @@
     public boolean visit( DependencyNode node )
     {
         // clone the node
-        DependencyNode newNode =
+        DefaultDependencyNode newNode =
             new DefaultDependencyNode( parentNodes.isEmpty() ? null : parentNodes.peek(), node.getArtifact(),
                                        node.getPremanagedScope(), node.getPremanagedVersion(),
                                        node.getVersionConstraint() );
+        newNode.setChildren( new ArrayList<DependencyNode>() );
 
         if ( parentNodes.empty() )
         {