We consider the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) dispatching problem in container terminals where vehicles are allowed to carry more than one container at a time. This paper presents a micro-simulation framework that seeks to a real-life automated port. The framework validates/evaluates the operational results obtained from an optimization model designed specifically to find the optimal solution to the dual-load AGV dispatching problem. We report on various performance measures associated to container terminals and compare the results to those obtained using heuristic rules.