The traditional serial design mode based on two-dimensional drawings has many defects in the design of ro-ro passenger ships, which cannot meet the development needs of ro-ro passenger ships. In view of the problems in the traditional design process of the ro-ro passenger ship, the design schedule of the ro-ro passenger ship is optimized by applying concurrent engineering theory with the support of the model based definition（MBD） technology. The preliminary design, detailed design and production design are coordinated through the concurrent design of the 3D integrated structural design and the advance outfitting design. The design structure matrix is used as a basic calculation tool to compare the changes in the design period of the ro-ro passenger ship before and after optimization based on the design of a ro-ro passenger ship, in order to verify the feasibility and validity of the theory. The results show that the application of the concurrent engineering can effectively reduce the design workload of the ro-ro passenger, and solve the incoordination between the professional structural design and outfitting design, as well as shorten the design duration of the ro-ro passenger ship, with a schedule optimization rate of 25.7%.